Sounds impressive, huh?  No, nobody is making a movie about us yet.

 

We were in Hollywood (Florida) for ABR training.  This was our first visit to the satellite; we'll go to Montreal again in October, and Hollywood two more times before then.  We learned three new exercises, and spent much-needed time with other families who know what it's like to be us. 

 

Ben stayed home this trip.  He's melting down a bit.  The gravity of everything is hitting him pretty hard, and he's hurting a lot for his little brother.  I remember when he was a baby and there was the discussion over "let him cry or pick him up".   I knew then that for a very limited amount of time just a hug from me would actually FIX everything that was wrong, and I wasn't about to waste that brief power.  I had no idea it would be this brief. 

 

The trip itself - well, something's got to go wrong, huh? We got to the hotel and only had one bed.  We had decided to get an oceanfront room, since it costs so much to stay there anyway, but with one bed Tim had to sleep on the floor that night (there were no other rooms in the place that night).  The hotel was under construction - drywall dust - so I was fretting because Sam can't be around that with the trach (it's a direct shot to his lungs).  They gave us another room the next day - no bathtub this time.  Sam can't take a shower, of course, because of the trach.  Moved us again.  It was okay, except our ocean front room was now overlooking construction garbage, cigarette butts and soda cans.  YAY. 

 

We did ABR therapy for four days, then left to come home.  OH - before we did, we saw that we had a gashed tire!  Fortunately, we saw it before we left.  (The tire wasn't flat, but we could tell from the way it was sitting there was a gash in it.  Sounds weird, but it would have blown out on the way home.)  So we had to get new tires before we headed back. 

 

We had about a 5 hour drive ahead of us.  Sam was exhausted, but when he got in the car seat and we started driving, he started punching his fists and kicking his legs.  (Almost, if you imagine, like one of those Christmas ornaments where you pull the strings and the arms and legs fly up in unison.)  I was rubbing his head and trying to calm him down, and when I realized this had gone on for well over and hour, I started freaking out.  I didn't know what he was doing, and I was worrying he was having some new disorder or something.  We pulled over at the next exit so I could get him out of the car seat and he was just fine.  So, I guess he was just complaining and asking to be held.  This is good news - except for the killing me part - but it's a stress reliever for him, a way of expressing himself. 

 

When we got home, finally, he settled down.  I (silly me) actually thought I might get some sleep.  Sam apparently heard me say that and had to think really hard of a plan.  When I got him to bed, all seemed good, but then he woke up and vomited out his nose!  A new trick I could have lived without his learning, honestly.  So then he was upset (I would be too, I think) and we were up until about 2 am.  Jinkies. 

 

We made our trek to Zephyrhills the next day.  Then somewhere in the middle of the night this morning, Ben got sick again, and so did my mom.  So Ben and Sam and I just stayed hidden in the house all day.  That's okay - we're just unwinding.