Cruise 2011: Day 1, Embarkment and Sail Away

We got a shuttle at 10:45am from the hotel to the port.  Getting close to the port we could see the very top of the ship.  It wasn't quite the dramatic entry as going into the Port of Miami, but actually by just being able to see a little of the ship, made us realize that she really is huge!  There were no other ships in the port this day for comparison.  If you want to see something interesting look at Ft. Lauderdale on Google Maps (satellite).  The airport is easy to find.  Our hotel was just south (two major roads), along the I95.  The port is east of the north end of the airport.  If you zoom in close, you can clearly see either the Oasis or the Allure.  It's the big one on the left, bow pointing south :)
We were brought up to a section of the parking lot at the north-west side of the building, where you can see angled parking spots in the Google map.  A bunch of people immediately sprang up, but then the driver got on the speaker.  Just before he did, the woman behind us told her young daughter (around 8 or 9) that there would be a lot of people and things going on and she'd have to be really patient for the next two hours.  The driver explained that first, all the luggage would be unloaded, then we would get off and find our luggage and give what ever we wanted "checked" to the porter, and keep out all our important stuff in our carry-on.  The woman behind us could see her carry on bag with all the luggage and started going on about not wanting it checked and where on earth is her other suitcase.  Then her daughter started about where is her backpack and she wants it to carry on....then the mother immediately freaks on the daughter and wouldn't let her say another word.  Argh.  She's an excited child, just picking up on her mother's cues!

We got off the bus, and got our suitcases.  We were checking 3 out of the 4.  We didn't have room tags though, as we didn't get our room assignment until Friday evening (more on that later!).  The porters were friendly and got the job done quickly.  We went into the terminal, followed the signs, stood in line, and were in the waiting area in less than 1/2 hour.  A few minutes later, we were heading to the gangway!  We were on the ship by 11:45, I think. 

I have  a lot of pictures to post of today, so I'm not going to include ones of specific areas of the ship right now.  In another post, I'll walk you through the ship and show pictures of each area.

We immediately headed up to Windjammer (the largest buffet on board, and usually the only thing open at boarding time).  This is what to do on any cruise, we've learned.  This time, it's on deck 16, which is one above the pools (the other two ships had it on deck 11 with the pools).  I had brought the deck plans from the cruise book, and we were given a little booklet when we checked in, but hadn't yet gotten an idea of where anything was.  The little booklet is great, when you spread it open on your bed, but not too handy as you're going up the elevator, LOL.  The Windjammer is just as expected, although now there are hand sanitizers everywhere on the ship.  They tend to dispense a little more than my girly hands needed, so be prepared to have some man hands nearby to drip onto :)

 A helicopter cozy!

We went outside to look around, then I remembered we needed to go to the box office right away.  We found out where it was at that moment (it's not a real structure, it's tables set up in a bar, staffed by the recreation staff).  We found the line, and joined it.  It was probably the longest line we dealt with all week (except for the flight home).  However, we were able to get seats to the two shows we hadn't been able to reserve pre-cruise.  Reserving seats pre-cruise is now offered on the Freedom and Oasis classes only, I think.  I remember getting on board with the first cruise, and seeing all the different events we wanted to schedule, and wished we could have known a bit more while still at home.  Even though we had the show schedule at home now, there were still many other events (and shows) that didn't need reserving, and still needed to be worked into the schedule. 

 For some reason, the sight of a machine gun made us smile.

We decided after that to go up and see where our room is.  I had heard that rooms wouldn't be open until 2pm, but it's not an "all at once" type of thing--if your room is ready, you're allowed in.  We were surprised to find at 1pm that not only was our room ready, our luggage was already there! 

After work on the Friday afternoon, Rob checked on line to see if we finally had our room assignment.  We finally had a room, on the 6th deck!  Not only that, but somehow, we had been upgraded to a balcony room!!  Every time we've booked a cruise, we toy with the idea of a balcony room, but don't want to pay the extra.  A balcony is about $200 extra, per person.  We always decided we'd rather use that money for an excursion.  After all, every one says you don't spend much time in your cabin.  Right?  Well.  On the first cruise, I was sick.  I spent a lot of time in the cabin.  On the second cruise, we had already experienced much of the ship, so we, uhhh...did spend some quality time in our cabin.  For views of the standard, inside cabin, check out the links on the left for "Cruise 2008".  The inside cabins on the Freedom class are 152sq ft.  On the Oasis class, they're 149sq ft while the room we got was 182 sq ft.  I'm not really sure how they made the smaller rooms so much smaller--smaller sofa, pushed right to the end of the wall.  The layout of the balcony room we had is slightly different than what they show on line and in the book--our bed was at the front, and the sofa next to the doors.  I think the room would feel bigger with the sofa near the door, and would make it a lot easier for using the closet.  Rob would get something out of the closet and sit down on the bed, making it impossible for me to get in the closet.

 Every few minutes, the weather looked different!

The first thing Rob wanted to check out was the lock on the sliding door.  He had read that it's easy to lock yourself out.  Indeed, it is.  Especially if it's windy; the door makes an irritating squeal, heard both in the room and on the balcony, unless left open a few inches (letting hot humid air into the cabin), or put in the lock position. 

We started unpacking, and discovered that our room had been booked by a Portuguese speaking couple that were Diamond members (we're Gold members).  You'd think after that many cruises they'd be in a suite.  Maybe they had upgraded themselves.  We never did get our own coupon books--the Guest services said they'd come to the room by the second night, but then we went back and they didn't have any left :(  We couldn't use the Platinum coupons as you have to provide your name and cabin number.  We did enjoy their Welcome Basket snack and robes though!

 Uhhh...are we headed towards that rain?!

After, we headed out to explore some more.  We toured the spa and some of the gym, then headed to the other end of the ship where the Boardwalk area is (all this was on our deck).  It's a nice area of the ship, although not really a relaxing zone--not a lot of seating, except in the AquaTheater. 

At 4:30pm there is a mandatory emergency drill.  On the other ships, you have to take the life jackets out of your room (see Cruise 2008 for pictures), put them on, and line up on the hot, outside, covered slightly, decks, with 100s of other people.  Even the year I was feeling good, I nearly fainted.  It was impossible then to hear all the info on the speakers.  This time, the life jackets are at your meeting place.  As you go there, you have to have your SeaPass card out, and the location is in big print.  You show it to staff standing everywhere with signs saying "Have SeaPass in hand" and they point you which way to go.  When you get to your location (for us, it was the ice rink, otherwise known as "Studio B"), you have to have your card scanned.  You don't have to put on life jacket!  But you sit down with about 350 other people and listen/watch the video.  In the event of an emergency, your leader will take you as a group to your lifeboat.  Ummm.  I know the odds are great that it'll never happen, but I don't really want to go deep into the ship, and wait to be led to the lifeboats!

After that, we headed back to our balcony to watch the send off.  Luckily, we were on the starboard side, and headed south, so we could watch the shoreline.  And watch the clouds.  Mmmm.  The weather wasn't looking so great.  We went out to Central Park to check it out.  It was probably our favourite area on ship.  Despite being mid-ship, and closed in on 4 sides, there was a nice breeze, and lots of places to just sit.  And sometimes some fun characters too!

Our dinner time was 8:30.  Would we get a table of 8 again?  Young people, old people, couples?  English speakers?  We have no idea how they group people.  We went into the dining room and wandered around the main area before asking someone.  There was no logic to the table numbering!  He took us off into a side room we never knew existed!  We were at a table for 4, and there was another young couple there.

Oh boy.  John was 30, a "chef", parent to a 7 year old boy, and married to Vanessa who was 23, about to get her masters in business degree, 10 weeks pregnant, Brazilian but born and raised in Utah.  Together though, there were from Florida, and boy, did John sound like it.  He had a Corona in front of him, and that's all he had until the after dinner shot, but I don't know how much he had in the pre-dinner hours!  He was a big talker.  Slightly repetitive though.  And I could barely understand 1/2 of what he said.  He was very friendly with the staff, almost too much so, for the first night.

Our waiter was Michael Miller, from Jamaica; his assistant was Andrew, also from Jamaica.  I have no idea what the head waiter's name was, but he was from Slovenia.  I don't remember what was on the menu for this night, but Rob and I had Black Angus sirloin (I think) from the "alternatives" menu (otherwise known as the "basic food for picky eaters").  As always, the food was excellent. 
John and Vanessa left without dessert, which of course we stayed for.  As soon as we got into the lobby though, we both cracked up and started laughing hysterically.  We had nothing in common with this couple, but they were quite entertaining (in a "were we ever that young and dumb" sort of way).

It's sort of like Cirque de Soleil.  The pool has a platform that can raise up and down.

We had to head up to the AquaTheater right away for the show, "OceanAria".  Ten minutes before show time they let in those without reservations, so you want to have your seat before then.  The Boardwalk seemed wet, and we think it must have rained during dinner.  The theater was already pretty full by the time we got there, at about 10:15.

 These guys below, are known as "Hand Balancers"

The show, "OceanAria" is a conceptual show--something about what life in Atlantis would be like.  This is a little hard for Rob to follow--he wants a real story.  I say, just watch it for what it is, not for the "plot".  It's an incredible show, choreographing springboard, platform, and extreme high divers, with trampoline, dance, "hand balancers", and airborne acrobatic artists.  Whew.  There's a lot going on at any time.  Pictures don't do it justice, especially when you're still new to your camera's functions (and do NOT use flashes during performances!).  I did find a ISO3200 setting on my camera which is probably the best option for dim light/fast action.

 Yes, that's a trampoline.

After the show, we went to bed.  There were still lots of other things to do on board, but we needed to chill a bit before going to sleep!

 See those people near the top right?  They go over to the platforms directly above the springboards (which are folded up and out of the way).  Then they dive off.  Crazy?  Wait for this next picture...

See the tall tower?  See the person at the top?  Yes, he dives off, and he's not the only one; there's a tower on both sides.  I'll have more pictures on other days to show just how crazy high this is.  These guys are called "Extreme divers".  Since everyone on board does multiple jobs, I wonder what else these guys do!

Cruise 2011: Pre-cruise

Ever since our last cruise, November 2008, we have wanted to go on another.  Rob has wanted to go on the newest ship, the Oasis of the Seas, but the thought of being on a ship with 6100 other guests (plus over 2000 crew) was a bit much for me.  I really wanted to go on a southern Caribbean cruise, but Rob didn't want the hassle/expense of flying to San Juan, or the smaller ship.  The past few years have been really busy and stressful for us (the move and his new job), but every once in awhile we'd check out cruise prices and then sigh and postpone for later. 

This past summer one of my friends went on the Oasis of the Seas.  She gave a very good review of her trip, stressing that the ship never felt crowded as there are more venues, places to eat, and open space than on the smaller ships (ie--it has two FlowRiders, but not twice as many passengers as the ships we had been on).  Rob's parents were open to looking after the kids for a week (since we now live close, and all three are in school full time!).  We looked at the prices, and the itineraries, and on Sept 6 booked the Western Caribbean cruise for Oct 23-30 on Allure of the Seas.  We booked as an "guaranteed inside cabin", which meant that it could take up to the day of sailing to find out our stateroom number/location.  We feared being down in the bottom of the ship again, but would take our chances.

 Our WestJet 737 for the trip down

Isn't that spectacular?  Just want to reach out and touch that fluff!

We got lucky with awesome direct flights, at good times and good prices.  We flew WestJet from Toronto to Ft. Lauderdale on Sat. Oct 22 at 4pm aprox.  We were nervous about timing, having to drive through Toronto on a Saturday afternoon, but it was nice not to have to get up in the middle of the night!  We actually got there a bit before the WestJet counter opened, but when it did, we were immediately pleased with their staff.  Actually, before we left, I got a call from someone at WestJet to make sure we had found out about our change in our return flight time!  Going through security and customs was quick and painless, although paying for an early dinner in the airport wasn't so painless, LOL.

 I was terribly excited to see the live GPS images, however, once the plane showed up on the screen, I had to laugh.  Look at how big the plane is!  It was handy to take a picture out the window, then one of the screen to show where we were.  I'm sure the old snowbird next to me thought I was odd!

 These two pictures are between Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia.  The river formations/deltas were amazing!  I'm going to be visiting Google Maps to check them out some more!

They called pre-boarding, and we were surprised at how many adults in wheelchairs there were.  Apparently the migration of the snowbirds had started!  Pre-boarding (silly word) took longer than expected, and we boarded near the end since we were in row 6.  We took off a few minutes late. 

 I think this one below, is Daytona Beach.  I liked how the shadows of the buildings projected onto the ocean, but you couldn't see the buildings themselves.

Crew was pleasant, and although the take off was as lousy as I remember (it was fine, really, I just hate that part), the flight was smooth.  We got in a few minutes early in fact.  Our bags came quickly, we found our shuttle to the hotel and got checked in, then went to Chipotle's for a late dinner.

 I love how the cities go right up to the Everglades and then Stop!

However, it appears that we were further south than what the GPS showed.

 A little bit of the sunset.  It was hard to photograph, as it either blinded the camera (and me), or the camera would focus on the dirt on the window.

I had heard about Chipotle's on Oprah, and I think we have one in Toronto, but neither of us had been.  Rob thought we were just going to another form of Taco Bell, but he was extremely pleased with the taste and value of his meal.  He kept talking about going back to get another one!  Mine seemed to get spicier as I got closer to the end, but it was very good.  I would have liked a little dessert/sweet bit after as the spice stayed with me for awhile.

 The views from our hotel room...yeah, that's the I95.  Not the greatest view, but hey, we were there for the bed, free shuttles, and free breakfast.

SpringHill Suites (Marriott), Dania Beach

 Weird double-headed shower thing.

 It was technically a suite (with a king size bed!).  We kept our free water cold in the mini fridge, but didn't use the coffee maker.  I did however, enjoy sitting at the big desk while writing out a knitting chart!

We were going to go to the pool, but opted to keep our suits dry till on the ship.  It wasn't really an early night, but better than the last trip when we didn't get to the hotel till 11pm.
We got up bright and early for the free breakfast, then gathered our things for the free shuttle to the ship.

Update on Hugh

It's time for a little update on Hugh.  The accident was on October 11.  On October 13 I took him to see our family doctor (who he hadn't yet met) at the walk in clinic.  She was somewhat more helpful than the hospital, although she didn't take the cast off to look at it.  She did prescribe naproxen (a stronger version of Aleve) and prevacid (to protect his stomach from the naproxen).

These pictures are from just before we went to the walk in clinic, Oct 13.

These pictures are from October 14th:

Its hard to get a good picture--using a flash makes his skin look shiny and you can't see the bruising, but no flash means it's blurry, although the colours are better.

You can really see how the right side of his foot is either swollen, or out of place.  It looked like this on the xray, but the doctor said it wasn't broken.

These pictures are from October 17:

 The bruising around his toes did not show up as quickly as the ankle bruising.  Is that good, or a concern?

Tomorrow, Oct 20, we go to the "fracture clinic" at the hospital.  Hopefully we'll finally get some answers there.  He's able to put some weight on it and "walk" without the cast, but I'm not letting him, LOL, although he takes it off for sleeping now.  I think that's helping heal the road rash--getting some fresh air on it.

One thing we found out after this accident, is that Hugh has a wart problem on that right foot!  I had no idea--he ALWAYS wears socks, so we don't see his feet.  He had had one on his hand that got large and was hard to get rid of, and last year had one on his foot that was also difficult to treat.  But he's got two huge plantar warts (which he says don't hurt), and MANY (10+?) smaller warts around the toes.  I read that up to 90% of warts will just disappear, but I don't think the plantar warts will, and he's even got some bumps on his knee that look like mini-warts.  My bigger concern though is WHY does he get so many, and no one else in the family (Lucy and Meg have each gotten one or two at a time, easily treatable) gets them that bad.  I never get warts.

Music Monday

I've written before about my love of Genesis.  One thing I enjoy about this group is their auditory variety due to their various life stages.  Many bands that have been around 30 years sound pretty much the same now as they did at their start, which is also a great attribute.  But a band that continually matures and evolves despite some major changes, like the loss of their lead singer and image maker, should also be acknowledged.

The other day on my "walg" I listened to "All in a Mouse's Night" from Wind and Wuthering (1976).  This is a most interesting song, from a fascinating album.  Who writes a rock song about a couple that sees a mouse; parts of the song are from the couple's view and some parts are the mouse's view.  And then there's the poor cat.  What I love about this album is that it is very musical.  It's not formula music to be played on the radio.  It's music that makes you listen.  How much of that is out there now? 

I think the strength of this album comes from the strong musical education of these men.  If you watch this video, it's charming how the guys could be your accountant, your butcher, or your child's teacher.  Music education like they got growing up just doesn't happen anymore.  Much of it was church based, and that is very evident in the heavy Hammond organ and Mellotron use by Tony Banks.

In that video, it's interesting to hear how this is one of Tony's favourite albums.  Is that because his songs did well, or did his songs do well because he liked the album (and the making of it)?  It's also interesting to know that Phil Collins was not doing much composing back then.  In fact, even the singing was still pretty new to him, as you can tell by the thinness of his voice.  He hadn't grown into his role as lead singer yet--even the album notes state that he provided the "voices, drums, cymbals, percussion".  As Phil's confidence and importance in the band grew, the individualized credits for each song were eliminated until all music was written by "Genesis".  And that is also when they started getting more consistent North American air play.  Mmmm.

I would love to find out more about the genesis of the songs from this album.  There doesn't seem to be much indication of drug use by the band, and mind altering drugs don't suddenly provide talent anyway.  What provokes someone to write "Fifty thousand men were sent to do the will of one./His claim was phrased quite simply, though he never voiced it loud, I am he, the chosen one.//In his name they could slaughter, for his name they could die./Many there were believed in him, still more were sure he lied,/But they'll fight the battle on." (One for the Vine; Tony Banks).

Other songs could be on the pop charts today, both musically and lyrically:  "You, you have your own special way,/of holding my hand keep it way 'vobe the water,/Don't ever let go-Oh no, no, no./You, you have your own special way,/Of turning the world so it's facing/the way, that I'm going, don't ever don't ever stop." ("Your Own Special Way; Mike Rutherford).  Also, "But I, I would search everywhere/Just to hear your call/And walk upon stranger roads than this one/In a world I used to know before?I miss you more//Than the sun reflecting off my pillow..." (Afterglow", Tony Banks).  I'm surprised there aren't more remakes of Genesis songs, like "That's All"    (I don't particularly like this remake, although for some reason I'm wondering if this isn't the song I'm thinking of...is there another countrified version of a Genesis song?  Oh my goodness, look who also performed it!  How fascinating to hear such different versions.  I can see myself spending too much time on YouTube today!).

Anyway.  That's Music Monday today!

Happy Anniversary?!

It seems this year my family's wedding anniversaries bring unfortunate events.  My brother had his derelict minivan stolen out of his driveway.  And yesterday it was our turn for not celebrating  our anniversary.
Back in April, for Rob's birthday, I bought him a high speed go-karting experience at a place north-east of here; adjacent to a popular motorsport race track.  In the summer, my younger brother, Michael, also bought the voucher (it was through wagjag, sort of like "Groupon"; a discount service where a company offers a deal, as long as a certain number of people pre-purchase it, and you don't get charged unless the minimum number of people buy).  They were excited to go together, but trying to arrange two very different schedules...on top of that, some of the info said it had to be done during the week, not on weekends.  Sigh.  The vouchers expire on October 31, AND, we're away from Oct 22 to Oct 30!  Finally, the boys agreed that yesterday, Oct 11, our anniversary, would be acceptable.  Their time slot was 1pm, and it was supposed to last 1 1/2 hours.  I expected them back around 3:30-4pm.  I had Hugh and Meg booked for dentist appointments at 4:45pm, and I told Rob he could either take them, or he could stay home and cook dinner.  He chose to stay home.

At 4:25 they still weren't home.  I called Michael's cell, and they were about 10 minutes from home (and in "my" truck).  I decided to wait for them, rather than take Rob's truck.  They showed up, and we left.  We parked in a municipal lot, on the south side of the main 4 lane road through town (Dundas Street, or "Highway 2").  It's 1/2 the price of the parking meters right by the dentist, and I usually have to go to the bank or library right by the parking lot.  But it means crossing Dundas Street...lights are two blocks in either direction.  I grew up in this area, and crossed this street very regularly from a young age.  During the day, I will usually cross the street with the kids, rather than go out of the way to the lights.  During the "rush hour", I play it by ear, but usually go up to the lights if we "have time".  Yesterday, since we were rushing, I opted to jaywalk.

We waited for the eastbound lanes to stop (backed up from the lights, two blocks up).  I held Meg's hand in my right hand, and Hugh was beside her.  We crossed through the two stopped lanes, and I stopped on the yellow line.  I looked down to Meg, to make sure she didn't have her feet sticking out, and saw that Hugh wasn't there.  As I turned to my left, I heard the screech.  And thud.  And screams.

I looked over and saw him on the ground, on his back like a turtle.  He was screaming about his foot and his glasses.  I got his glasses, and he got up and took a couple steps towards me, but then dropped down to the road.  Traffic had stopped, but we were in the middle of the road.  A woman stepped forward and asked if she could help--she was a nurse.  She directed two men to scoop him up and carry off the road onto the grass in front of the church.  People were milling around but I just focused on Hugh, I assumed someone would take it upon themselves to call 911 (I don't have a cell phone).

911 was called, and the nurse came back to see in I needed anything.  I said we were supposed to be at the dentist beside the church and could she go tell him we weren't coming.  Dr. Greenglass and his hygienist soon appeared, and although I'll never love going to the dentist, LOL, it was really nice to see their familiar faces.  I asked if they could call Rob and tell him to come down, along with Hugh's health (insurance) card. 

The "first responder" EMT arrived, a nice, friendly, non-young man.  He got Hugh's shoe and sock off and we saw the extent of the damage.  Wow.  We were certain there'd be some broken bones, although he had all his pulses and could move his toes.  He also had a cut on his knee, and road rash on his elbow and back.  But looking at his clothes (including a WHITE t-shirt, you'd have never know he just collided with a car!).  How fortunate that Hugh doesn't like sandals!  An unmarked cop showed up, and the ambulance came and got Hugh loaded in just as Rob showed up.  The cop said I could go in the ambulance, but he was waiting for a marked police to show up and take the actual report, and then the ambulance left (nearly getting hit by a Ford pickup as it made a U-turn).  Rob left with Meg to go home.

The new cop took over.  Picture this....distraught mother...barely over 5ft tall.  Dark black cop WAY over 6ft tall, who did not take his sunglasses off.  He had the warmth and compassion of an ice cube.  He never leaned forward or bent down, he was fairly soft spoken and with an accent and we were still beside a busy road which made it hard to hear him.  He would probably have been great when arresting someone, but he totally missed on the sympathy aspect.  However, he at least wasn't too hard on me, perhaps because I did say this was my fault.  He said he wasn't going to press charges (against me or the driver), but it would actually be up to his Sargent about that and if CAS is contacted.  I'm not surprised, but I think it was pretty obvious that this was not a case of neglect or intentional harm!

I spoke briefly with the driver before I left.  He seemed okay, although I have no idea what he was like immediately after the crash.  His windshield was broken he said, but it didn't seem that Hugh hit his head, and his foot had obviously been twisted or driven over.  I don't think his lightweight, combined with the slow-ish speeds could have meant that his elbow did the damage.

I got home, and Rob wasn't home!  I collected my stuff and was getting ready to leave when he showed up with both girls (Lucy had been at her friend's house).  He drove us to the hospital, dropped me off, then took the girls to his parents and came back to the hospital just as Hugh was getting examined.  I want to say a HUGE thank you to the paramedic who stayed with Hugh in the emergency department until I got there!

The doctor was not exactly Mr Pleasant either.  Although after seeing Hugh he disappeared for awhile and when we saw him later he was much better.  I guess we weren't the only ones missing dinner!  He ordered a urine sample and foot x-rays.  That didn't take too long, but waiting for the results took awhile.

When the top view popped up on the screen, I was concerned as everything looked a little angled.  On the side view, there is a bone at the top of the foot, with some grooves in it, but I didn't know if that was normal.  But the side view scared me.  I had never seen an ankle x-ray, so I really had no idea of "normal".  There is  a bone that sort of droops down on the side, looks like when you squish a S'more and the marshmallow oozes over the side.  There was also a horizontal line just above the end of the leg bone.  Turns out this is normal, and the small segment at the end of the leg bone is the growth plate.  I had Googled x ray images yesterday morning and didn't make a distinction between adult and children, so at first I got mad....then I googled for children specifically and it seemed to be a normal thing.  The doctor said it was badly sprained, but no breaks.  He'd need a splint.

However, there was some blood in his urine, "+3".  He said if he was an adult, this wouldn't be a concern, but he consulted with the urologist, and this number is above the cut off for okay, and he would need a CT scan.  Mandatory.  Rob was really upset with this; I guess working in the nuclear industry now has made him more aware of the issues.  We had to go out to the main waiting room, where there wasn't a single book, toy, or magazine.  The TV was on, but we couldn't see it.  Hugh was freezing, we were all hungry and tired.  Rob went and got a snack, but of course, there's all these signs that say patients can't eat or drink.  I let Hugh have a little bite of doughnut and sip of water.  Rob called his mom and she had given the girls a bath, which was great since the next day was picture day!  She would take them back to our house so they could go to bed.

(the line going across his leg is his tan line from wearing socks all summer!)

At about 9:10 they called us back, and Hugh had to drink two big cups of a cold, watery fluid, quickly.  He was freezing!  Then the nurse had to put in an IV.  He did awesome, even though we could tell it hurt.  We were escorted to the CT scan, and that was all done by 9:50.  The technician said they use a lower dose on children, but then we were told by another nurse that they don't dose by size.

We had to wait in the main waiting area again, until about 10:20.  The results were fine, though we were told he needed to drink more.  We had to remind the doctor about the splint, and then had to wait again.  A nurse came to do that.  Finally, at the end of the night, we get someone with some personality and social skills (the CT escort and the CT tech were also nice).  She got him into an "AirCast" ($175!).  However, none of his wounds were cleaned up or dressed.  We left just before 11pm, and Hugh noticed the full moon, LOL!

Hugh has a loft bed, so his mattress was moved to the floor, and we visited with Rob's parents for a bit.  The day before, at Thanksgiving Dinner, when we each had to say what we're thankful for, I said good health, and having family close by again.  Who would have thought the very next day we'd be calling upon them in an emergency!

Hugh was pretty tired on Wednesday morning, so he stayed home until lunch.  The rash on his back was hurting more than anything else, except for his leg getting tired from dragging the heavy cast around.  We hadn't been given ANY instruction on how to care for him (except to see the Ortho. next Thursday).  I took the cast off, and the sock liner was stuck to the raw parts on his leg.  Not too bad though.  He iced his foot for 20 minutes, kept the cast off for a bit while I took pictures, then we put him back together.

This morning, he did say his foot hurt (finally).  He did go to school, although we almost missed the bus.  Luckily, the bus has to drive towards us, so they can see if we're running down the street, LOL.

I'm taking Hugh to the walk in clinic after school, where our doctor works.  She hasn't met him yet (she's met everyone else, LOL).  I just want to know how best to care for him, what's the best painkillers, etc, and to have documentation in case anything turns up later.

I will mention that Meg was an awesome girl during all this.  She didn't see him get hit, thankfully.  She was calm and not demanding while Hugh was being attended to.  She did start talking to the first responder about her upcoming trip to Pingle's Fun Farm (which is owned by my ex-aunt and her husband).  Lucy woke up when we got home and she got to see the cast, but when I took Hugh into the office at lunch, one of Lucy's classmates was there and she said Lucy started crying when she told the class what happened.  And then there's me.  I am able to keep calm (but still shook up) during emergencies, but then later, I crash.  As the day wore on yesterday, I felt worse and worse.  There was a lot to do, emails, people to phone, this to write out, dinner to make, and I didn't want to do anything.  I was exhausted, with a minor headache, and a deep feeling of horror mixed with relief.  I think going for my "walg" (walk and jog) would have helped this morning, but Lucy woke up and then threw up on my kitchen floor.  But she's totally better now, so I'm taking her to school in a few minutes!

Music Monday

I was all set to write about this song last Monday, but then found out the CD doesn't include lyrics :(  Then I got really busy and now it's this week, LOL.  I promise I won't do country music each week!

"I'd Rather Be Happy Than Right".  There's no video to go with the music, so you have to intentionally listen.  But it's an easy listen!

As a woman, I do think every man should hear this!  It's like a Dr Phil episode in a song.  And better looking!  LOL.

However, this caught my ear:  "if I want to be happy later on tonight, I better let her think she won the fight, cause I'd rather be happy than right".

Good point, LOL.  But....shouldn't the woman also/sometimes  let the man think he's won the fight?  Mr. M and I totally disagree on some renovating things right now, but I can let it slide and let him think he's "winning".  I think it just comes down to this...what can you let slide for the sake of happiness?  The paint colour?  Do you really need to comment on her lipstick?  His mismatched socks?  What you focus on expands!