Friday, April 18, 2008

Stuck in Paradise

So, here's a dilemma for us. We just returned from the check-up at the Doctor on Call clinic. No more fever for Mikayla, ears look "better", but, uh - "When were you going to fly out?" "Uh, today...." "Well, I don't think that's going to work....."

Sure enough, he did a little eardrum vibration check, brought out the printout results and said, "What you want to see is some spikes to show that the eardrum is responding to vibration - you don't want to see this - where there's absolutely no movement". (My understanding is this would mean that the change in pressure from flying could potentially burst both of her eardrums). He proceeded to tell me that he can't even be sure when she'll be better - "let's be optimistic and have you visit in 24 hours again". (He says they see this sort of thing all the time....)

Well, now. This is not the situation we anticipated. The funny thing is, where yesterday was an icky day weather-wise - lots of humidity, "vog" (the volcanic haze), and very bright - today is the deepest blue skies we've seen all week. I found myself trying to absorb every last minute of it on the walk to the doc's knowing that I'd soon be returning to a high temp of 47 degrees in Oregon. Well, there you go.

Now, we are just waiting for John to return to break the news to him and figure out what we'll be doing- little things like a new flight, perhaps a place to stay... little details like that. We'll keep you posted!

**********************************************************************

Well, it's about an hour later. You should have seen the look on John's face when he saw the "Doctor's Restriction Sheet". Kind of a "deer in the headlights" look....

He's currently on the phone with the airlines. We've already secured a room in another part of the resort - for an exorbitant amount of money, and we're holding our breath to see what fees we'll be accruing by changing the flight reservations. This is one expensive ear infection.

The Whites are going home today. This makes me very sad. We're kind of a package deal these days - our only special little family. (On a funny note, Mikayla, Stephie and I were walking hand in hand - Mikayla in the middle - to the luau. Mikayla got several comments on how pretty she looked and I asked afterwards to Steph - "So, do you have your wedding ring, on Steph? The one that DOES NOT match mine?" Travis and John have dealt with the same issues as they've done activities together with Brayden). But, it makes no sense for them to stay and deal with the extra costs as well, especially when we have no guarantees that we can for sure leave tomorrow. Throw in a huge work day Steph is anticipating on Monday (for a board meeting), and it's a big deal that she gets settled in at home and prepared this weekend. Sigh..... While it seems like a fun idea to "keep vacationing", it's turning out to be a bit of a let-down. But, of course, don't feel sorry for us, we'll do what we can to make the best of it......

It looks like, now, we'll be staying through Sunday. The price per person to change the tickets is not pretty - and the risk of having to pay it again tomorrow is not worth it. Sigh..... Alright, time to check out - more posting to come, later.

3 comments:

LiteraryGirl said...

Hmmmmm, hard to feel sorry for someone stuck in paradise, but I do understand that logistically this is not so fun. I hope the next few days turn out to be an unexpected, wondeful blessing.

btw, my mom is here and I have been asking her about possible right offs for this expense on your taxes next year...;)

HollieHobbie said...

I've been stuck in Newark; I've been stuck in Seattle (twice); I've been stuck in Minneapolis; but never Hawaii! I am so sorry for the reason you are stuck...poor Mikayla; I had the same thing in Mexico and on the flight home, good chice to not make her suffer the flight, but if you are to be stuck somewhere it may as well be Hawaii!

Right offs, Jodi? Seriously?

StephieAnne said...

Well, thanks for everyone's sympathy! (as undeserved as it is!)

We're suffering through it!~ =)

Actually, the whole thing is a bit surreal. Just as John and I have settled in, "readjusted" to this "epilogue vacation" - the kids sunk into quite a sadness. It says a lot about their love (and ours) for Travis and Stephanie that their departure has affected them so much. When we had them go check out what they might want from the pool pantry/store menu, they returned with mopey faces telling us how a vacation is just not the same without our family or friends joining us.

After further discussion (and talk about last year's successful trip with just our family to Lake Tahoe) we all decided that is the CHANGE that is the hard thing to deal with - that the trip was supposed to include Travis and Steph from start to finish and now that it doesn't, they are struggling.

So, we're hunkering down for a cozy evening tonight. I'm making carmel rolls and bacon in the microwave and we have "Princess Diaries 2" on tv now. Yes, I think we'll make it through.....