Plane Ride

I am trying to add a slideshow this time. Lets see if it works!
Kevin is a wonderful man and is also one of Hope's Make A Wish guys. He took Hope and Grandpa up in his plane yesterday. Hope had a blast!
We are 4 days away! Busy packing and preparing!! I don't think there is enough time for me to catch up on sleep before I go. Oh well! I've been sleep deprived for 8 years now!
Thank you everyone for all of the warm wishes and support!

So much to do, so little time!

Well, I received a new packet in the mail today from Give Kids the World Village. We will have our own personal greeter meet us at Orlando Airport to help us get our luggage and rental car along with a map to the Village. We were instructed to bring an extra bag for all of the gifts our family will receive while staying at the village (on top of any souveniers that we buy). I will attend orientation the first night where I will receive a 3 day park hopper pass for the 4 Disney World Theme Parks, a 2 day pass for both Universal Theme Parks and a 1 day pass to Sea World. We will settle into our fully accessible 2 bedroom 2 bath villa complete with our own driveway, washer/dryer, laundry detergent, tv and dvd player, full kitchen, stocked fridge and a gift basket of snacks. Everything at the village is free to us. We can have pizza delivered to our villa from the kitchen. If we don't have a camera or video camera, they have a lending library so we can borrow one for the week, along with dvd's. They have horseback rides twice a week, a train, merry go round, HUGE playground, miniture golf course, pool, movie theatre, Royal Spa, couple of restaurants, ice cream shop open from 7:30am until 9:30 pm and did I mention the snow filled street with a horse drawn carraige to meet Santa? Charachters from Disney World, Universal Studios and Sea World also visit the village to sign autograhs and take pictures. The whole village looks like it came out of CandyLand and Alice in Wonderland. They have events planned everyday for before we go to the theme parks and when we get back. I'm a little excited now! I know that we receive a going away party to see us off when we leave our house in Phoenix. Pretty sure a limo takes us to the airport too. WOW!!!!!
Thanksgiving, Vacation, Christmas and then start school! Ah! So much going on! I think our family will come back a whole new family!

Botox again

We went to spacticity clinic today. Dr Kwaznica suggested botox again. The last time we tried was 2 years ago and it only lasted 2 weeks. It is meant to last minimum of 2 months. Hope's toe flexors are really tight which makes her toes curl under. These muscles are really deep in the foot. Her heel cords are also really tight. Dr. Shafron will be doing the procedure. He will inject a full dose of botox into the heel cords to, in theory, loosen them so we can stretch them and help them grow. Last time they injected her quads. Dr Kwaznica feels her quads are okay now and it's a movement disorder and her tight heels that make her crouch while walking. Botox will be a one day in the hospital procedure. I'm hoping we can get it done after Disney World and before Christmas. We'll see. The nurse should be calling next week to set it up.
Now that I just bought her Toe Off braces, CRS is now covering them. Figures! Hope has had them less than a month and already has chunks out of them and cracks from slamming on her knees. That's my girl!
All in all we are well. So far we have remained healthy except for fire induced bronchitis after camp. Hope is loving the fact that she can get wet. Very sad that she missed the water slide again though.
Thank you everyone for your continued support and prayers!

She's healed!

Sorry for the long delay, things have been really crazy. We are less than a month away from Disney World! Exciting and nerve racking all at the same time! Kevin, one of the Make A Wish guys will be taking her and Grandpa up in his plane before Disney World. Hopefully this will make out plane trip a little easier! We do have a straight flight there and back. That will be nice!
Hope's wound is FINALLY healed! Four and a half months! She can finally get wet again! Hello bathtub! I am so glad to be done with sponge baths and taking her to get her head washed and braided. Now she can get back into her stander and back into her old routine a little more. She can sweat again too! AMAZING!
We are several months out from a service dog. Everyone has a different story for me. I guess we are definitely still a ways out though. There are a lot of dogs getting ready to graduate from the program, they just aren't old enough yet. They say there are a few that have strong potential for Hope. Fingers crossed!
We went to Shriner's on Friday and her hips look good! Thank God! Now that she can sweat again, hopefully she will get back into hippotherapy, the stander, knee immobilizers and all of the fun hip restriction activities.
We have been at a stand still with all of the other doctors. I do need to get her back in and find out what it would take to test her tissue. I'm dragging my feet a bit. It has been nice not running to the doctor every week.
Hope is on her second growth spurt in 30 days. Ugh! Attitude city! She better stop before Disney World! Her hips are looking good for as fast as she is shooting up. Hopefully it stays that way.
I go see Financial Aide on Thursday. It's really happening, I am going back to school! I have pretty much everything set up for the big transition. It will be a huge adjustment for the house as well as myself and Hope. I'm very thankful it is only 4 hours a day. I start January 4th.
I better get to bed! I promise to not wait a month before I update again!