My Favorite Prayer

I'm doing my blogging earlier, today.  I've got to get some stuff done before I go to work.  So I just want to share something- My favorite prayer.  It's credited to St. Francis, but I just found this article that says its probably not his words, just inspired by his life.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-p-horan-ofm/living-the-prayer-of-st-francis-with-all-of-creation_b_1937279.html  I'm not catholic but I've always admired St. Francis and I'm going to put him on my list of people to study and emulate.  Among others on this personal list are the obvious- Jesus, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, the Dalai Lama and Joseph (the one with the coat of many colors).  Then there are personal heroes whose lives seem to shine really bright, some I know, some I'd like to, like Neil Young, Bono, Kevin Horgan, Ryan Gingerich, people who seem to put themselves out there beyond their comfort zones.  Anyway,  this prayer always reminds me of what's most important and is exactly who I'd like to be.   

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

You never know what you'll find when you clean your room.....

Today, I found the pictures from our first visit to Kauai back in January of 2004.  Javy had just turned 2.  I lost of the pictures that I had taken, when I left them in the back of my car.  (They melted.)  But these were a slide show that my sister had made for us and I found the disc in my top drawer.  Hmmmm. Oh, and some of these are actually from Oahu, too.  We stayed there the first few days.  Sorry, they're not in any good order, either.  

Javy's first Jamba Juice

Beach nap

We stayed at a house in Eleele.

We had a picnic up at Koke'e, after Joy got off work.  It was so cold.

We were ill-prepared for the cold air so
we started wrapping Javy up in everything we had

Look at those little hands, he was so sweet.

Look at how interested he was in everything.

He and this goat were best buds.

I think at one point, he even stuck his face in the goat's hair.

It looks like they're having a full on conversation!

Happy boy, crawling around with the centipedes.

Our first Hanapepe Art night.  

Little did we know, this is where we would live, 8 years later.

Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks?

Javy's first Luau.

Lady's man, dancing with his new girlfriend.

Nothing better than a tickle fest on top of a picnic table in the middle of  Waimea.

Javy didn't like Captain Cook, either.

True story about the car.  We bought that at the Habitat Resale shop in Hanapepe.
He still has it and still plays with it.  

The elephant or the End!  Actually, the beginning!

The siamese whisperer!

Do you think that there are special people who have a connection with animals?  I do, just watch The Horse Boy or read Temple Grandin's books.  I think its possible that Javy may have a connection with animals.  There's the story that Kevin told me about the turtles coming up to look at him while they were surfing.  Turtles that normally scatter when other surfers come through.  There was the monk seal, last weekend, who seemed to follow us around as we were swimming at Salt Pond.  I swear he looked straight in Javy's eyes.

But tonight, I want to present the real evidence of this connection.  A real scientist might balk at my research, because of my sampling methods, oh well, its all I got.  Ok, here it goes:

This is a series of pics I took today of Javy and Eli.  Eli is a siamese cat.  The reason Eli is the subject of my research is because as I a child, I was terrorized by two different siamese cats, raised by two different families, in two different states.  My grandma's cat, Murf, would jump out when least expected and attack my legs.  He would literally chase me around the house.  I had this picture book of cats and on the back was a siamese cat playing with a big red ball of yarn.  My childish mind thought that it was actually a picture of a siamese cat attacking a red-headed little girl.  Same thing with my uncle's cat.  We had to watch it for them while they were on vacation.  I had scratches from head to toe.  My sampling of only two cats may not prove that siamese are aggressive, but its my real life experiences and I don't really want to have to Google it.  This is more fun.  

Eli isn't all together a complete angel.  He gets pretty rough with me when I play with him.  Never stick your hand in front of him when his ears are back.  But his ears have never gone back for Javy.  And Javy doesn't have a nice easy touch.  I've said it before, but to be loved by Javy is actually quite painful.  When he wants to kiss you, he'll grab you (and he has a really strong grip) and he bites down.  Hasn't quite got the puckering down.  So when he's petting Eli, he's using a lot of force.  He can't help it, his muscles are too tight.  But Eli will sit there and take it.  I've only heard him give him a warning meow, once.  He doesn't give me warning meows.  

Hey, maybe its me!  Maybe siamese cats just don't like me.  Anyway, I just wanted to celebrate Javy and Eli's close friendship.  I don't really know if Javy has a deep connection with animals or not.  I'm just glad they seem to be friendly with him.

More lessons learned

We survived our trip to Oahu, not unscathed, but we survived.  Javy is doing pretty well for someone who has an incision across his belly.  He's more active everyday and I only had to give him pain killers twice.

A few days ago, the topic of my post was "Lessons Learned".  I wrote this before my Oahu trip and how I was going to implement all the past lessons learned to make this trip better with all my preparation and research.  Well, the big lesson that I learned on this trip to Oahu is that no trip will ever be perfect, no matter how much prep time you put into it.  But the good thing is that all the issues we had were unique and we did not repeat past issues.  We were prepared financially, mentally and physically.  The big lesson is just take it all in stride and roll with it, because nothing can prepare you for:

• Blowing out a slipper (flip-flop, for my southern friends) and having to tie it together with a chopstick wrapper.
• Breaking a bra.  (I brought spare underwear, but not a bra.)
• Having to ride the bus an extra mile and then walk back to your hotel, because the cute bus driver assures you that what you thought was your hotel was not and your stop is definitely coming up. I couldn't break it to him, he was really trying to be helpful.
• The fact that the ocean floor where google maps showed the best beach access via wheelchair was a reef.  And Waikiki does not have showers to rinse all the sand off your feet.  
• Your sinus infection becoming so bad because you had to spend all night in air conditioning that the your son's hospital staff wants to admit you into the hospital.  
• And last but not least, finding out that your son's surgery is day surgery and he doesn't require an overnight stay, even though, you called the doctor's office and they told you he would be staying overnight in the hospital.  All of this, after you booked your flight accordingly.  

EggsNThings

One of the reasons, I hate blogging is that I feel like I'm droning on and on about myself.  I know Javy is cute and everyone loves to see his pictures and hear about him, and I'm really appreciative of everyone's support.  But, if I'm going to get through this thirty day challenge, I've got to talk about other people.  So tonight's episode is going to be a plug for an establishment that I found in Waikiki, EggsNThings.  Like I said in my previous post a few days ago, "Lessons Learned", I really did my research.  This is the place I found for Javy's dinner based on their menu and locality.  It was on the way back from the beach to our hotel.  We got the Chicken Fried Steach dinner which was plenty of food for me and Javy.  He got the short stack of pancakes (not very short, I might add) and I ate the steak and salad.  Being from Texas, chicken fried steak is very important to my culture, haha.  While it wasn't the ranch house, it was pretty damn good.  And the salad had this sesame dressing that was to die for.  Besides the food, we received another totally unsolicited blessing from an employee.  So good food and quality employees means they get my utmost loyalty.  Definitely eat there when you can.  http://www.eggsnthings.com/

Javy takes on Waikiki

I present to you, our Oahu trip in pictures:

Up early to catch a flight, mommy finally gets a cup of coffee!  

See ya later, I'm out of here.  Cruising around Queen's Hospital,
waiting for our doctor's appointment.

No, really!  I'm out of here.

Mr. Independent, pushing himself down the long hallway at Queen's.

Stops, on his own, to take a look at Queen Emma and King Kamehameha. 

Javy being anti-zen, in the most zen doctor's office, I've ever been inside.
The mood was made complete with classical music.

After a long morning and bus ride, made even longer by a cute bus driver,
he finally gets a treat. 

Coordinated beverage drinking at Waikiki. 

Drying off in the grass, after a swim.

He loves the night life, baby.

Even party animals have to have a pre op snuggles.

Post Op Haze

Still in a Post Op haze, but he's ready to get on the flight home.

Safe and sound at home with his partner in crime, Eli!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and positive vibes.

Lessons learned!

Tomorrow morning, I'm flying out with Javy for his surgery on Wednesday.  He has to get the battery changed on his baclofen pump, which only lasts about six years.  Basically, baclofen is a muscle relaxer and the pump puts the medicine directly into his spine so that its utilized more efficiently with less side effects.  Javy's muscles are so tight that if he didn't have the baclofen,  we would have a hard time keeping him clean because is legs would be curled up and hard to move so that we could rinse and wipe him off.  Also, he'd be in a lot of pain when he slept from his muscles being so tight.  I'm not going to get all technical.  If you're interested, let me know and I'll share some links from some Youtube videos that show other kids with their baclofen pumps.

What's on my mind is all the preparations that I've made.  I've made reference to my Honolulu trips before in previous blogs and I've learned from my mistakes.  We're going to be there for three days, one night in a hotel and one night at the hospital, flying home Thursday night.  It's pretty cut and dry, but this time I am not taking any chances.  First, I chose the hotel we're going to stay at.  It took me three days to make up my mind.  I researched the prices, the actual hotel room, and the area.  Did you know that on Google maps, you can actually view the street and tag whatever category you want to add to your map.  I know, people freak out about Google but its pretty cool, I think.  So I chose a Waikiki hotel (I'm not saying which one, stalkers!)  My plan and research went in to where I can take Javy swimming at Waikiki.  With the map, I can see the best sidewalk routes to take and then I researched the restaurants along the route and studied there menu, and chose one based on what Javy's favorite foods are.  So my day, is perfectly planned out, from the airport to the doctor's office to the hotel to the beach and dinner, down to the bus routes because you can see those on Google maps, too.

Uh, yeah, Mother Nature may have different plans for us.

Kauai today, Oahu tomorrow

Apparently, the front that moved into Kauai tonight, will be in Oahu tomorrow.  As I sit here drinking, my pre-nighty night cocktail and allergy elixir, I have plotted out Plan B-A trip to the Whole Foods Market to look for Buckwheat flour, take out pizza and movies on Netflix at the hotel.  I just wanted a special day, before the little guy has to go under.  Whatever it is, it will be an adventure.

Main thing is that I keep on target.  The kid can't eat anything Wednesday morning so I'm sure I'll be getting that "WTH, mom!" look when he wonders why I haven't fed him.  I have to collect urine from him Tuesday night which means I have to put the little urine bag over him and pray that some stays in. I don't think the doctors realize how hard it is to get urine samples from non-potty trained kids.  It's for a  genetic test and it has to get to the lab before 10am.   So Wednesday morning, I'm going to be riding the bus to the hospital with a kid giving me stink eye and a cup of urine.  Yeah, I want to have a good day, tomorrow.  

Today, I made sure that I packed all the necessities.  Here's the thing about our trips, its me pushing a wheelchair and riding a bus, so I gotta fit all of our stuff into two backpacks.  They are packed with all of my stuff: a hanging around the hospital all day outfit, a lounging around a hospital room outfit, a going home outfit, underwear, two t-shirts (one for sleeping and one for backup), a swimsuit, reading material, various forms of money, doctor's paperwork, my medicine, toiletry bag, cough drops.  There's Javy stuff: shirts and shorts, wash clothes, bandanas, his medicine, diapers, wipes, blanket and Mickey Mouse (for comfort) and his ipad.  And chocolate chip cookies for the outstanding Hawaiian Airlines employees who always take care of us, the nursing staff who will take care of us and whoever else just needs a cookie.

Will it all fit?

Barely!

I had to add an extra bag, not sure if that will work.  I'll let you know, tomorrow!  Send us good thoughts, its going to be a good adventure!