Dad's Medical Journey

I have been a nurse for just a little over 7 years now and I easily had my most eye opening experience just a few months ago. Most of you know me and have been following about my father and his recent medical problems. This gave me my first experience on the other side of medicine as the patient's family member. I will forever be changed as a person, nurse, and most importantly as an advocate for patients as a result of this experience. I thought I knew how exhausting mentally and physically it was to care for a critically ill family member, but in reality I had no idea at all. For about 15 days in December I felt like I lived in a hospital. Before I begin the recount of the events I just want to tell you all that we are so glad that this had a happy ending, because as you read just remember that there were a few times when we were not sure that there would be.

Here is the my version of what happened to dad during his illness. McKinley and dad had just returned from a trip to New Orleans on Friday December 9th. McKinley had interviewed for a spot in the Internal Medicine residency program and dad went along on the journey. That Saturday he rested and just did some stuff around the house. Sunday he did his normal routine and played piano at 2 different churches in the morning and then went to get some Christmas shopping done before coming back to play piano that night at church. The next morning is when everything started. Dad woke up in the morning and had some severe back pain. He cancelled all of his plans for the day and mom took him over to the chiropractor to see if it was just something that he could "straighten" back out. Dad said it helped a little, but not as much as he had hoped. He returned again the next day where the chiropractor tried to do some more maneuvers, but was unsuccessful. The next day when dad came in for a third treatment he told dad that he might need to see his regular doctor, because it was more than he could fix. So on Wednesday dad went to see his doctor. They drew some labs, thankfully, and then gave him a pain and steroid shot in his back and sent him home. Before they even got out of town they received a call that his kidney levels were elevated and he should go to the hospital where he would be directly admitted to a room. When mom first told us that she was taking dad to the hospital we thought it was just a quick trip to the hospital that would be sorted out and dad would be sent back home in a day or two. Boy were we all wrong!

Dad was started on some IV fluids to help with the kidney function. They also did a CT scan to check for any possible kidney stones that could have been causing the pain and on this scan they noticed an abnormal pocket of infection, or abscess, in a muscle in his back. We then thought that this was the cause of his back pain, so things were starting to fall into place with what all was happening. However, that night dad spiked a fever and just to be careful they drew some blood cultures. About 17 hours later we would find out that these cultures grew back a bacteria, MSSA. On top of everything going on, dad was having periods of confusion off and on throughout the day. So now this meant that he had been in the hospital for just about 36 hours and the list of problems were only growing. He had the acute kidney injury, a back muscle abscess, and now the blood infection. Mom was still the only one with him in the hospital and she seemed to be a bit overwhelmed, so we decided that it was time for McKinley and me to head in to see if we could help out.

McKinley, myself and my kids arrived at the hospital on Friday afternoon and it sure did give dad a boost in his spirits. That night we sent mom to rest and McKinley and I stayed with dad for the night. My cousin who lived close to the hospital agreed to watch my kids for the night. Dad was very restless during the night and I am not so sure that he slept more than about an hour total. He kept wanting to get up and use the bathroom, but with each time it seemed like he was getting weaker and weaker. Dad was also having some trouble with his breathing and he was breathing faster than normal at a rate of about 40-50 times a minute (normal is 12-20). The next day when the doctor came in he decided that he had a little fluid on his lungs and he was concerned with his breathing so he was going to move him down to the ICU. Things were about the same, but we were glad that he was getting the extra monitoring. Then the ICU doctor became concerned with the increased breathing because nothing he had been diagnosed with would have been causing this increased and labored breathing. The doctor thought that it was very possible that dad had a pulmonary emboli, or a blood clot in his lungs. The problem then was that the test to diagnose this required a contrast dye that is harmful to your kidneys and they didn't want dad to have that done. So, the next logical thing to do was to treat for the blood clot with blood thinners until he was able to have the test. So, dad was started on a heparin drip. Things were going well and we thought everything was moving in the right direction. Andrea had made it in from New York earlier than she had planned for the holidays despite the bad weather conditions. So, the Heflins were finally all together.

The next night is when things really took a turn for the worst. Dad's kidney function had finally improved enough that they felt comfortable to do the test to check for the blood clots. The doctor came and told us that his preliminary view of the scan showed a small blood clot in his lung. When dad came back from this procedure he seemed really tired and so we just let him rest. The problem was that over the next few hours he became more and more lethargic, or extremely tired, and was not as responsive when he would wake up. This was very concerning for us and we mentioned to the nurse who then started to get the doctor in to check on him. As soon as the doctor arrived and saw what dad looked like he immediately told everyone that he needed to be intubated. He mentioned to us that he wanted to also put in a central line because he thought that dad would probably have to be put on medication to help support him while the bacteria in his blood was being treated. Dad then had some bowel movements that were indicative of internal bleeding. So, the heparin drip was then stopped and they placed a tube down his nose to clean out any blood in his stomach, which ended up being a lot. When they rechecked his labs they discovered that his blood levels had dropped significantly. This required him to get two blood transfusions. They also quickly took him to get an abdominal scan to see if they could see any internal bleeding. Thankfully there was no active bleeding, but they wanted to start him on an IV medication to help prevent any future bleeding (Protonix drip). We were also informed that after closer examination by the radiologist that there was no blood clot in his lung.

After he was intubated dad was placed on IV medication for pain and sedation so that his body could rest and the medications could fight the infection. On the second day of being intubated his blood pressure began to drop and giving him additional fluid was not working. So the doctor decided to place him on IV medication, Vasopressin, to help support his blood pressure. However, it seemed like the entire day they were having to increase the dosage because his blood pressure still kept dropping. It continued to drop so much that they had to start him on a second IV medication, Norepinephrine, to help stabilize his blood pressure. This was all probably due to the infection in his blood, but it was hard to see him needing more and more support to stay alive. His blood sugars at this point were running in the high 200's to low 300's so they decided to also place him on an IV insulin drip to better control his blood sugars. This is pretty common in an ICU because the body heals best when the blood glucose is within normal limits.

This is when we got together as a family and started talking about if this is really where we thought we should be for his treatment. It just seemed like every few minutes something new was going wrong and we didn't know if this was the appropriate hospital for him to be in. We spoke with his primary doctor, the ICU doctor, his nurse, friends, and some other staff that we knew at the hospital. They all said relatively the same thing to us. That our dad was very fragile right now and that they didn't think that transporting him to another hospital at this time would be beneficial because the travel to the other facility would be extremely hard on his body. They then said that if that is what we truly wanted then they would make every effort possible to make it happen. Mom and all of us kids were at a loss. We didn't know what the right decision was for our father. What I was thinking was that we were at a small town hospital and that maybe there was something that was being missed because we weren't at a large city university hospital where they send the sickest patients. At the moment, I wanted him in Lexington at the University of Kentucky or possibly in Louisville. However, I didn't want to make that decision and then when the outcome turned out bad everyone blame it on me, including myself.

That night before the night shift crew arrived our day shift nurse, Aimee, said she wanted to pray with all of us. So, we all gathered around dad and she led us in a prayer and the words she said calmed all of mine and my family's fears. In that moment I had hope again that this was the place that we were meant to be. Or maybe it was God's way of speaking through Aimee to let us know that he was in control. We had so much family and friends close by to support us and to come by and chat on those long hospital days. We just needed for something to start going in the right direction with dad.

Dad had a really good night the second night he was intubated and the did some trials on the ventilator where he was breathing on his own, which was a really good sign. So the next morning we were thinking they might decide to get the breathing tube out. However, the next morning we were all waiting and ready for the doctor to come by and tell us the plan for the day. The only problem is that the doctor didn't come in until 3 pm. Let me tell you that I was pretty furious for most of the day because I wanted answers. I wanted a plan because that is what I am used to having. My brother calmed me down throughout the day by saying that maybe he wasn't coming by because dad was the most stable patient that he had on the unit. Well, he could have just poked his head in and said something to us. Anyway, they decided to take dad off the sedation medications so that he could wake up and become more alert. When the ICU doctor finally came by he said that he thought it might be a few more days on the ventilator before he was ready to have the breathing tube removed. We were praying for less because it was so difficult seeing dad in that state. His blood pressure did start to become a little more stable and they were able to slowly wean him off the IV blood pressure medications. So, now we just had to get that breathing tube out.

Dad had a total of 3 days on the ventilator before they finally thought he was ready to have the tube removed. Some of the delay was that dad wasn't fully waking up enough with the sedation medication turned off. This made them think that he still might not be awake enough to follow commands. They decided to take the breathing tube out when he finally answered a few yes or no questions appropriately. We all stepped out into the waiting room and impatiently waited for them to come get us so that we could see and hear him talk again!

He didn't initially talk to us after we all came back in the room, but when he did look like he was about to speak we all gathered around close to listen to what he was gonna say. He said "I would love to have a bottle of water." Only dad! What made it even funnier to all of us is that he hates water and would never choose it over anything. His mouth was just so dry that water was what he really wanted.

These pictures put the whole thing into a little bit of perspective. The 3 photos were taken in about an 11 day span. The far left is when he was in New Orleans at a Pelicans basketball game. Eight days later he was on a ventilator and finally in the last picture was the day he got his breathing tube removed. Pretty crazy if you ask me. Also the only reason why we still have him is because God knew it wasn't his time. For that I will always be thankful. 

Now for dad the hard part was only beginning. Rehabbing is very difficult and is sometimes a very slow process. For the past week or so he had barely gotten out of the bed and the doctor kept telling us that for everyday you lay in bed it takes about 5 days for each one of those to get your strength back. As we soon found out too is that dad had no recollection of anything that had been going on ever since he had been admitted to the hospital. He didn't understand how he got into the position that he was in. Slowly we started telling him more and more about what had happened to him.

Not exactly how we anticipated spending our Christmas, but I will say that there has never been a Christmas that I have been more thankful. Life is so precious and should be spent with the ones you love and this is my most important people in this world. Dad still doesn't really remember celebrating Christmas in the hospital, but we did. We opened gifts right there with him in the ICU.

The kids opening Christmas gifts with grandpa.

Dad was still really weak and tired for most of the days following getting the breathing tube removed, but everyday we could tell that he was getting stronger and stronger. He was still having trouble with his blood levels being on the lower side. In fact, he ended up getting another 5 units of blood during his time in the ICU, for an overall total of 7 units during the hospitalization.

Our next biggest obstacle that we were facing was dad's insurance. They denied him inpatient rehab and we spent about 4 or 5 extra days in the ICU because the hospital said that if we moved out to a regular floor then the insurance would be even less willing to accept him into a rehab facility. They finally did move him to an acute care floor because they needed the ICU room. Thankfully they finally discovered, after days of painfully waiting, (about 8 to be exact) that the initial diagnosis on dad's insurance form said that he was in the hospital only for acute renal failure and not that he was septic. When they changed that he was then ready for a spot in inpatient rehab there at the hospital. 

 It was so crazy to see how much he had lost in just a little over 10 days. It took a few days before they even felt comfortable even helping him to stand up. When they finally did it took a walker and 3 people's help.

In the 8 days that we waited for rehab we had tons of staff that came to dad's room to help with physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. Dad initially could barely move at all and had trouble with the easiest of tasks. He had some issues with memory and some comprehension, which is not like him at all! It was a little scary for all of us because we were unsure at the time if this was going to be his new normal or if he would get back to his old self.

Dad also had lots of trouble with swallowing after getting the breathing tube removed. We initially thought it was due to the tubes that could have cause some irritation. He was only allowed soft foods and thickened liquids which of course he wasn't a fan of. For some reason he had one single meal on his mind everyday. He loves Great Harvest Bread Co. and would eat there every Monday before going to play Bridge with his friends. As soon as he got the go ahead that he could eat solid foods I ran out to get it for him. He was super happy to get it, but unfortunately he said it didn't taste right. This was actually a common theme for about a month. No foods tasted like they were supposed to for him. This might have been why he ended up weighing about 20 pounds lighter when he left the hospital than when he arrived.

The most anticipated sandwich and soup ever! Chicken salad on orange-cranberry bread with a cup of tomato bisque.

We knew that dad started feeling a lot better when he was ready to start playing games. Here I captured us in the middle of a game of rook with a really good hand I might add. I am just glad that we ended up partners because I would have felt slightly bad about beating my old man when he was sick.

Here was the last picture that I took with dad in the year 2016. I had been off from work for 2 weeks and he was finally at a place where I felt comfortable heading back home to Lexington to return to work. I was hopeful for a better 2017!

While I was in Lexington he got moved to a regular room while he was waiting for placement in the rehab unit. He was continuing to get antibiotics every 12 hours for the infection that started this whole ordeal. Dad was going to have to stay on these medications for at least 6 weeks. I think it was on Christmas day that they actually placed a PICC line that he would be able to go home with. 

The whole crew was back together and dad looked so much more like himself in early 2017. Prior to getting sick all of us kids had made plans for after Christmas and into the beginning of the new year. Thankfully dad was doing so much better close to the new year that we were all able to attend our previously scheduled plans. Andrea went back home to New York to do some stuff, McKinley went on a trip to Mexico, and I went with Jennifer to run in our first ever marathon in Florida. Here is the picture when we all returned back home to see dad in his new rehab unit. 

After 2 weeks in rehab he was finally released to go home and continue with outpatient rehab as well as daily visits to an infusion clinic for his dose of antibiotics. I am so thankful that Andrea was in between jobs at the time so she was able to stay at home for close to a month to help mom out with dad. Even though he had been cleared to go home he was still really weak and had difficulty doing most tasks on his own. I came back a couple of times in between my weekend shifts to help out as well as do some handy work around the house.

Dad getting in the car to head home. He was finally discharged from the hospital on January 16, 2017. This meant that he was hospitalized for a total of  32 days and I know that he was ready to get out of there. He was pretty worried about how things were going to go once he got home because he wouldn't have all of the same help that he had in the hospital. He was upset that he had to go home with a cane to use as an assistive device, but he just wasn't strong or sturdy enough to go without it.

Dad at the infusion clinic. He had to go here every morning for a 30 minute infusion of antibiotics through his PICC line. Dad was still not able to drive so someone had to take him every morning and afterwards we usually did a few errands in town too. Two days a week he would go to therapy after the infusion too.

Everything was going in the right direction and dad was doing great. He was sometimes upset because things weren't progressing as fast as he would have liked them to. He would have to be reminded that he didn't get in this shape overnight so it was going to take a while for him to get back to normal. Then one day dad finally mentioned that he was having some trouble seeing so we took him to the optometrist. Turns out that dad's right retina had become detached at some point and that was the reason for his vision loss in that eye. Two days later he had surgery to repair this detached retina and the procedure was called a scelera buckling.

Dad may not have been able to see good, but he never lost his sense of humor. This was a picture that mom sent us after he had the surgery.

The doctor told him that it could take up to a year for his vision to come back and that it might not. Not exactly what dad or the rest of us wanted to hear, but we just kept praying for the best. His follow up visit showed that he still didn't have great vision back in that eye but that he now also needed to have a cataract removed. Apparently, the previous surgery caused the cataract to become worse. About 3 months later he had the cataract removed and we are so excited that he now has vision that is at about 20/40 without any corrective lenses!

It has now been a little over 5 months since all this started and dad is slowly getting back to his normal routine. He has gone back to working at the middle school and has returned to playing piano at church too. Dad has yet to start driving again because his eyesight has been impaired, so mom has been his chauffeur ever since returning home. Dad still has to take oral antibiotics to keep the infection from coming back. His infectious disease doctor has told him that when he stops these antibiotics in June it will be the true tell if the infection is really gone from his body. Also, for the last 4 months dad has also been on the blood thinner Xarelto because on an ultrasound they did find that he had a small blood clot behind his left knee.

I would like to thank the staff at Owensboro Health for all that they did for us during our 38 days there. I would like to thank all of the nursing staff, doctors, physician assistants, respiratory therapists, IV team members, speech therapists, physical therapists, pharmacists, nursing care techs, other administrative personnel, and even the custodians. You all play a valuable part in helping get my father back to where he is today. For that we are all very grateful and thankful that you do what you do! There were a few people that I would like to thank personally but I have no idea if they will ever to see this, but I know how grateful I am that they were helping take care of dad at the times when we needed them the most. A couple of nurses who stand out are Aimee and Evan. I talked about Aimee earlier, but Evan was like our full time night shift ICU nurse and caught a few things that others had missed that proved to be very important. One respiratory therapist, John Michael was very helpful along the way and he was the one that placed dad's art line, which is essentially an IV placed in an artery that allows you to continuously monitor blood pressure. Mike with the IV team placed a couple of IV's for dad and even placed his PICC line on Christmas day. Speech therapist Carla who was patient with dad and was the one that gave the go ahead on the Great Harvest sandwich. Dr. Gipe and his group of doctors who stayed with dad through the whole process and are still keeping a watchful eye over him now that he is out of the hospital. Dr. Wilson and the entire infectious disease team who found the bacteria and have done a great job getting dad the appropriate medications needed to kill it. Dana, who just so happens to be Jennifer's cousin, who guided us and helped us finally get the insurance to approve dad's rehab. Mrs. Enoch, who was my football coach's wife, who was a familiar face that stopped in to check on us and even told us about the sleep rooms which proved to be very beneficial. There are so many more, but for some reason these are the ones that stick out the most and that I remembered their names.

I cannot even begin to thank everyone that played a part in helping us through this difficult time. For all the prayers, thoughts, texts, cards, calls, visits, and just the outpouring of love that was shown for my dad and our family. For the people that brought us food to the people that let us stay in their homes. You all kept us going when we were completely lost as to where our next meal or where we were going to sleep for the night. In our time of need you all stepped up to help in any way that was needed. So thank you from all of us! 

I would like to thank my wife for sacrificing her time and energy during this difficult time as well. I dropped everything to be at my father's side for close to 3 weeks. She became a single parent and at times was 3 hours away watching both kids while still trying to work her shifts. Thankful for her mom for watching the kids while she was at work. Jennifer would usually pick them up on her way home each morning and keep them all day with little to no sleep. Jennifer was my rock in a time when I needed her most.

The last group of people that I want to thank are my mom, sister, and brother. This was a very difficult time for our family and I feel like this brought us even closer together. There were nights when all 4 of us slept in the room. We laughed, cried, prayed, comforted each other, and we waited together for the entire time he was in the ICU. My mom and sister who do not work in the medical field were lost at times with what all was going on. So, early in the process we made the decision that at all times myself or McKinley had to be present at the bedside so that we could help make decisions and also act as a medical interpreter for mom and Andrea. This ended up being McKinley's first real patient because he was practically done with medical school at the time that dad got sick. McKinley acted as my sounding board and my own personal medical student to see if things were being done properly because I don't work with adults. I hope that all of McKinley's future patients have a positive outcome like his first did. Andrea was our support role in the hospital because in all honesty she was completely out of her element. She has no medical knowledge so we were always having to fill her in on what was going on. Andrea really came through once dad returned home. Andrea stayed for about a month to help take care of dad and to help mom out with anything around the house. I am not sure that mom would have been able to do this by herself because dad was still not in very good physical condition when he first got home. This was a huge help and I cannot thank her enough because I know that it had to be difficult for her to be away from her husband for a month. Lastly, I am thankful that mom played the role of guest relations at the hospital. Dad had lots of visitors while at the hospital and she was the one that was in charge of telling the story of events that had happened. This was probably a great distraction technique and there were quite a few people that us kids didn't even know. I can't imagine how difficult it was for her to see her husband of 34 years in the condition that he was in.

This was one of the most difficult times that I have had to experience in my short 31 years of life. To see my father, the man that I love lay in a hospital bed motionless for multiple days was heartbreaking. I know that so many people have to do this on a daily basis, because I am the nurse that has taken care of them, and my heart truly goes out to them. We were lucky in that we had a positive ending and not everyone gets that. I thankfully get to spend more time with my dad and for each day I am grateful, because as we all know tomorrow is not guaranteed. I thank God that this wasn't dad's ending because I think he still has more works to do here on this Earth. If I learned nothing else from this experience it was how much that dad meant to so many people. The number of people that came to see us and contact us was incredible, but they were all people that dad had an influence on at some point in their lives. It was truly remarkable! Again I thank you all! I love you dad! Thanks for reading and God bless!

Last trip to Disney

Well, we knew that this day would finally approach and towards the end of February was when our Disney annual passes were set to expire. We decided to make one last trip down to Florida so that we could get another use out of our passes. It was also decided that we would try to do it a little more special this last time and we would get the dining plan and try to hit as many of the character meals as possible. We didn't do character meals every time because they can be quite costly, but we thought it was appropriate for our last big trip to Disney for the foreseeable future. Since we decided to do the dining plan this time at the last minute we didn't know what kind of dinner reservations we would be able to get. It just so happened that we were able to get some of the most difficult reservations just weeks before our arrival. The kids were super excited and it just so happened that we would be there for Jennifer's birthday, too so we had lots to celebrate.

We continued with our normal driving technique and after I got off from working day shift we finished packing up the car and then headed out on our 12 hour drive south to Disney World! The kids were wearing their personalized hats and Jennifer made both mine and her hats.

The first place that we went on this trip was to Hollywood Studios. Jennifer's favorite ride in all the parks is Toy Story Mania. It is a really fun ride, but I have maybe only beat Jennifer at it once or twice in about 30 tries. It is so frustrating for me, but I just keep trying. I even looked up helpful hints online to try and help increase my score but to no avail.

The kids both got to participate in the Jedi Training Academy (even though Landon still wasn't old enough) and the kids enjoyed meeting Kylo Ren, the Storm Troopers, and Chewbacca.

Action shots of the kids during Jedi Training and then fighting against Darth Vader! These are so funny and I even filmed it so that they can watch the whole thing for years to come.

We got to see some old character friends and some new ones too. This time we got to meet Moana, but at the time we hadn't even seen her movie yet. It is always neat to see a real life character.

The next morning we headed over to the Animal Kingdom for a couple trips on Kilimanjaro Safaris. It is probably the least favorite park for us so we only spend a few hours there before going to a different park.

We met Pocahontas for the first time along with Baloo and King Louie again.

For lunch we grabbed a bite to eat and I decided that it was finally time for me to try the giant turkey leg. As you can tell it was pretty good. 

We took tons of pictures with the Disney Photo Pass workers. Any picture is made better with Cinderella's Castle in the background right?

We finally got a chance to meet Aladdin as well as seeing a couple of our favorite princesses, Rapunzel and Tiana. Our absoulte favorite person to meet though is Talking Mickey! It is such a cool experience to go in and actually talk and carry on a conversation with him. I would highly recommend it to anyone going to Disney!

After riding some rides at the Magic Kingdom we headed over for our reservations at Be Our Guest for dinner. This is quite possibly the hardest reservation to get and I think it has something to do with the fact that after you eat you get to meet the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. Landon was so tired that he fell asleep during dinner. Brinley also really enjoyed the grey stuff because it's delicious.

The best part of eating at Be Our Guest is that after you finish eating you get to meet the Beast! He was very nice and pointed to Brinley's shoes that lit up and acted out like he wanted a pair. I told him that I didn't think that they made them in his size. Definitely worth the money if you can get reservations because there are very few ways that you can actually meet the Beast!

Jennifer and I stopped after dinner for a picture of just the two of us.

The next morning was Jennifer's 32nd birthday. What a way to celebrate your birthday at the happiest place on Earth. This was actually the second time in 3 years that we were here on her birthday. Jennifer made herself some birthday Mickey ears to wear around. She also made me some Kentucky basketball themed Mickey ears too! (I just wish that the basketball team hadn't been beat by 22 points just a few nights before by the Florida Gators.) I did run into quite a few Kentucky fans while I was walking around that day.

Riding some rides around the Magic Kingdom. 

We also scored some difficult reservations at the Cinderella's Castle for lunch with the princesses. It was a lot of fun eating inside the castle and seeing the princesses, but I am not sure that it is worth using 2 of your fine dining meals to pay for it.

The appetizer, meals and desserts were all very pretty with their presentation. I particularly liked the dragon that they decorated the plate with in the bottom right corner. Those are the kind of small touches that make Disney so special.

We had somehow never met the Disney characters in the Storybook Circus area so we made our way over there and got to meet Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, and Donald all dressed in unique outfits. The lines were not actually all that long either.

Later that day we had some snacks to help with the relatively hot February weather. I think it was in the high 70's, but the sun made us all crave something cool. 

That night we headed over to Epcot to ride some rides. Brinley loves Test Track, but Landon isn't tall enough so Jennifer took him over to get in line to meet Anna and Elsa. We had no idea that she would get through the line so quickly, but they did and were finished by the time we got over to them.

Since Brinley missed out I stood in line again so that she could see the princesses Anna and Elsa one last time.

The next morning we all went out to play a round of golf. We played the winterwonderland 18 hole course. Landon actually hit 2 hole in ones and Brinley hit 1!

Picture of us before going into Chef Mickey's for lunch. Landon was being silly and wouldn't smile. It also looks like he was trying to steal some of Mickey's fruit!

After the miniature golf we headed over to Chef Mickey's for lunch. We had been here before, but it is just so much fun to see all the main characters come around while you are eating lunch. The kids had a lot of fun and I got some of my favorite Mickey shaped waffles since we were there for brunch.

We got in one last ride on the kids favorite ride, The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train!

This was going to be our last full day at Disney and we wanted to spend the whole afternoon and night at the best park, the Magic Kingdom. We ended our night with some cotton candy while watching the fireworks. It just so happened to be extra magic hours so we got to ride more rides until the park closing time. The kids decided that they wanted their last ride to be on the Astro Orbiter which we had only rode one other time on our trips to Disney. They loved it, but were ready to go pick out their souvenir. For the entire year we had never bought anything in the parks other than food. So, this trip we spent a little time going in some stores to see if there was anything they wanted to remember the year of Disney. 

Well, small problem was that when we were going to exit the park we were going to pick up the souvenirs the stores were all closed. Total bummer because this was our last planned day at the Magic Kingdom. We had a couple of upset kids so Jennifer got online to see if she could buy them and get them sent to the house. Before she was able to buy the stuff online I told her that we would just make a quick trip back over to the Magic Kingdom before we left in the morning. It would only delay when we would be getting back home by a few more hours.

Our last morning we went to Hollywood Studios for one last ride on Toy Story Mania. I couldn't believe it when we got to the end and I actually beat Jennifer! I was so excited and afterwards she told me that it was only by a couple hundred points. I thought I had figured out how to beat her and we got in line again, but this time I lost. I guess I should learn to quit while I am ahead.

Before we left Hollywood Studios I wanted to get one last ride on quite possibly my favorite ride, the Hollywood Tower of Terror. Unfortunately, I can't find anyone that will ride it with me.

Since I had messed up with not being able to get our souvenirs because we were riding rides up until the closing time the night before I made the decision that we would return for a quick trip back to the Magic Kingdom for a little treat and to pick up our souvenirs. 

Now our real last picture looking at Cinderella's Castle. Although we love Disney World I am not sure when we will be returning. There are so many other places and things I want to see in this world. So, for now it is goodbye!

We even got a ride on the tea cups and our final ride on It's a Small World. In the end I couldn't think of a better way to end our time at Disney.

We also stopped for one last set of pictures in front of the castle. What a great way to sum up our year long passes. These two really do love Disney World and no matter how much the cost I would have done this past year of  Disney all over again! I am not sure that it will ever happen again for us to have annual passes, so this might have been a once in a lifetime adventure! We had some pretty awesome experiences and I hope that the kids remember some of our time exploring the happiest place on Earth! If they don't then they can check out all the pictures and read about all the fun times that we had. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Meeting the Wildcats

Three years ago I became a UK basketball season ticket holder. I have always loved UK basketball, but this made me even more invested in the program. I have been able to witness some awesome games and some amazingly talented young men play basketball at RUPP Arena. Unfortunately, every year after the season is over many of these young men leave Kentucky to pursue their dreams of playing professional basketball. This year we had a lot of guys leave; 3 seniors and 5 underclassmen who decided to leave early. Here are our adventures going to meet them all:

Dominique was the first player that we met this year. We don't get that many home grown Kentucky boys on the team anymore so it was neat to meet both of them on the #KYboystour. 

Dominique thought the kids three goggles were pretty funny.

Family picture with Dominique Hawkins. I thanked him for the last 4 years and wished him all the best in his future. I also thanked him for going and visiting one of the cancer patients that wasn't doing well at his home. It meant a lot to him and his family.

Another Kentucky born player. I told Jennifer afterwards that these guys gave boys all over the state of Kentucky hope that one day they too could play basketball for UK.

Family picture with Derek Willis. I also thanked Derek for coming to visit kids at the hospital from time to time. I actually met him for the first time a few years ago on one of those visits to the hospital. I wished him the best with his future playing career. We also got to stop and talk with his fiancee.

Next up in the autograph tour was Malik Monk. He was my favorite player from this past season and I knew for sure that I wanted to meet him. Unfortunately, I missed his session when he was in Lexington. The next closest place that I could find was when he was scheduled for a visit at the Tin Roof in Louisville. Of course in was on a night that Jennifer had to work, so I packed up the kids and headed west. This is probably Landon's favorite way for me to hold him. Maybe because it allows him to see so much more.

These two crack me up sometimes. They have their own "iPhones" which are just old ones of ours that we downloaded some games on. They love to get to have time playing on them, which is usually limited to when I need them to sit and be calm. Landon looks so big here with his hat on. I think he looks like a frat boy.

Of course I am the guy that teaches my daughter to put L's down while standing on the street in downtown Louisville. Raising them right!

Landon wanted to wear his hat like Malik, so I helped him get it just right. Just a few minutes before it was our turn to meet Malik, Brinley fell down and cut her hand. Thankfully one of the Tin Roof servers helped us out with bandaid.

We rarely meet one of the players and don't throw up some 3 goggles!

Myself and the kids with Malik Monk. I wished him the best in the NBA and can't wait to see what records he breaks there.

I just need to find myself another shadow box so I can get this up to display.

Next on the autograph tour was De'Aaron Fox. This young man was super talented and proved night in and night out that he was one of the leaders on this team and probably one of the fastest point guards to ever play for Kentucky.

Fox throwing up his 3 goggles with the kids.

Myself and the kids with Fox. Landon refused to put down his 3 goggles.

While we were waiting in line to meet Fox, Brinley kept taking selfies of herself. I told her that if she wanted to then she could try to take one with Fox. We got all of our pictures and autograph and were heading out the door when Brinley became upset. I asked her what was wrong and she said that I didn't give her the phone so that she could take a picture with him. So, we got back in line. Thankfully it was only a few people at this point. I explained that she wanted a selfie with him. De'Aaron was very happy to take one with her and even helped her out because she couldn't figure out how to get both of them in the picture. She was so happy on the way back out to the car and on the way home.

This was the one surprise of players that decided to leave early. Isaac Humphries was a really nice young man who didn't get to play as much as I thought he should. He showed flashes of how good he could be especially in the final game against North Carolina.

Family picture with Isaac. I told him about Brinley being our little Australian surprise since we found out after our trip there that we were expecting her. Jennifer told me that was too much information. So, then I wished him all the best of luck in his basketball career.

Mychal Mulder was the next former cat that we got to meet. I wish that we could have had him at Kentucky for all 4 years. I don't think that we ever got to truly see everything that he was able to do. The kids threw up some 3 goggles for him.

The whole family with Mychal. We wished him the best of luck in wherever his basketball career takes him.

Isaiah Briscoe and Landon having a little conversation.

The kids with Isaiah. We were so caught up with taking pictures that I forgot to tell him that he was Brinley's favorite player. I told him that we enjoyed watching him play over the last 2 years.

Brinley taking a selfie with Briscoe.

Myself and the kids with Briscoe. Landon wouldn't look up because he was trying to get his phone to work so that he could take a selfie with Briscoe too. Landon even had a little bit of a meltdown when I couldn't get it to work either.

Our last wildcat that we went to meet was Bam Adebayo. He was a really nice young man and he had a lot of fun with the kids.

Bam thought that the 3 goggles were hilarious! You can even see his mom in the background laughing too.

Bam taught Brinley how to throw up deuces. Brinley thought it was cool, but Landon didn't really want to do it.

The kids took their selfies with Bam and he even wished Brinley an early happy birthday.

This is the picture from Brinley's phone of her selfie with Bam. These are the pictures that I anticipate will be priceless someday to the kids.

This is the picture from Landon's phone with Bam Adebayo. Bam had to help him out a little bit because he couldn't take the picture because he kept putting his finger over the camera lens.

 A few years back the players that were leaving all started doing autograph tours around the state so that they could meet the fans and say thanks for all the support. A lot of fans thought it was wrong because the guys charge money for autographs and pictures, but to me it doesn't really bother me. These guys have made the university so much money playing basketball for practically free during their time on campus. Twenty or thirty bucks to meet them and say thanks for all the memories is fine with me. I have made it a point to take the kids with me too. They don't always like it because they have to wait in line to meet them, but someday when they are older I think they will be happy that I took them to meet all of the guys. Thanks for reading and God bless!