Animal Kingdom

We had a busy day today at Animal Kingdom! Today was only in the 40s/low 50s, which we were not totally prepared for after yesterday being in the mid-80s! It also sprinkled a little, but thankfully never rained hard. We saw Chip and Dale before we even entered the park, and Raul was SO excited! Every time we saw a new character he made the cutest faces, and just seemed in awe of them. He and the characters gave each other lots of high fives, kisses, nose rubs, and snuggles!

We saw the Lion King show, which Raul did like, and tried to go to the Nemo show, but it terrified him and we had to leave. I thought the presentation was a bit abstract, but as he said, "the shark ate the mama". Luckily that was the only time we struck out, though! We rode the triceratops ride, which had him nervous at first, but then he liked it. We also went on a safari, and of course Raul enjoyed the safari vehicles even more than the animals (other than some sort of deer, which he is convinced was a baby camel; the one animal he really wanted to see!). We rode the train out to Rafiki's Planet Watch, which was great, and not crowded at all so we were able to see Rafiki and Chip/Dale again (as well as go to the petting zoo and see a wild pig having a medical procedure through the window into the animal hospital)!

We had a late lunch at a character buffet, and the characters all came around 2-3 times, which Raul enjoyed! He thought it was most funny when we were leaving and almost ran into Donald going around a corner! Today was Mickey's birthday, and Raul wished him "Happy Birthday" several times. After lunch Raul said he wanted to see Pluto, so we went to see him (and Goofy again), and then joined in the Dinoland dance party before heading back to the hotel! Raul even danced a little with a Disney cast member and the characters!

 

 

 

 

Travel to Orlando

Yesterday morning we flew to Orlando for a special Disney trip! Raul did amazing on the flight, which was helped by the fact that the plane had both internet and personal TVs! He also read his toy magazines and played with his cars for a while. When we got here it was incredibly hot and humid, and rained very hard as we drove to the hotel, but Raul was excited to see the palm trees and Disney buses! Our room is in a corner, so we look out on two views of the savannah at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We have been enjoying looking at the animals and have already seen many despite the rain/cold! I woke up on the early side, and it was fun to be able to just open the curtain and look out at the animals! 

Halloween

 On Halloween this year our apartment building had a Halloween party for the kids, so we went to that before going trick or treating. Raul had a great time, and especially liked the pumpkin bowling game! Then we went trick or treating, which Raul really enjoyed this year! He particularly liked houses with dogs, and even tried to invite himself into a few homes!

Final Cincinnati Update

Last Thursday we moved into a short stay room at the Ronald McDonald House. We were able to spend four nights there, which was great! The house here is huge, with lots of meals and activities. We spent the day there Thursday playing, and in the evening went to a magic show they had.

Friday morning we were up at 5:30 to head over to the hospital for Raul's procedures! We spent some time waiting and talking to all the doctors, and then it was time to bring him back. At first they told us that I would not be able to be there for him to fall asleep as they didn't have the right surgical suite available, but luckily they were able to find one! They told us it could be up to 6 hours, but thankfully it ended up only being a bit over 3. Before going back, he got to choose his cast color too, and chose red!

He had scopes by pulm/ENT, a dental cleaning, and got cadaver skin grafts (after which both legs had to be casted above the knee). They went in that order, and after each doctor was done they came out to talk to us. His scopes looked great, and his dental cleaning was smooth with no cavities or anything (there was a fair amount of damage to his lips/mouth, but he wasn't too bothered by it). Plastic surgery was able to place the grafts on both ankles and one knee. She confirmed that his knee wound was in fact down to tendon and bone as I had suspected. His knee had a ton of inflammation, and was "boggy", so they actually checked for fluid in the joint as well, but luckily that was not an issue. This will be the first wound we do a surgical graft for if we can improve his labs. They then casted his legs, and were able to stretch his ankles a bit as well to help with the contractures. They also let us know that we would not be required to spend the night since things were quicker than expected and he did so well with the anesthesia, which was great news!

It took Raul a while to wake up, but when he did he wanted to sit right up, and he was happy to get to go back to the Ronald McDonald House. We were worried about how he would react to the casts, but he didn't care at all. In fact, they actually seem to be helping with some of the pain he had as they give his knees stability. He is also able to scoot just fine with them on, which is a relief! We will be doing follow up for his legs in Boston, and he will get bi-valved casts this coming Friday so that we can go back to regular bandage changes.

We are heading home tomorrow, but in the past few days we have been able to go to a train museum, as well as back to the zoo and aquarium. Raul has had a great time in Cincinnati, despite the medical appointments, and has actually been telling us that he wants to move here and live in the downtown area! He is now excited to go home, but also excited that we might have to come back in the future!

                                       Baking a chocolate cake

                            Pretending to be a dog with the therapy dog

Raul's Fifth Birthday!

My posts are going to go a bit out of order, but I wanted to post about his birthday today! Today Raul turned 5! This morning he woke up to our decorated Ronald McDonald room, which I had done after he fell asleep last night. Then he got to get a birthday "call" from the Paw Patrol characters, which he was excited about. When my parents came over he got to open all his presents! After breakfast, his Icing Smiles cake was delivered, which he was very excited about! Then we went to the zoo, where he got to feed the giraffe again and see all his favorite animals. We also went into another building this time that had really funny jumping/playful monkeys, as well as a cute baby monkey. After the zoo we came back to have our cake (which we were able to share with many other families here) and actually met another EB family on our way in. Then we did lots of playing until dinner, and now he is sleeping soundly after his busy birthday! Tomorrow we leave the Ronald McDonald House, and Tuesday we get to fly home! He will have the follow up for his grafts in Boston.