Myrtle Beach Day 4 - Just Keep Swimming!

I planned to do a post a day this week - really I did - but life has, well, taken on a life of its own.  We had out of town company for several days and we're leaving tomorrow for http://campnewhopenc.com/  .  We hardly know what to do with so much fun and we are looking forward to some lazy days in the mountains next week.  We also had some trouble with the company that sends out our email updates (I know some of you didn't get the last email for a couple of days) and I wanted to get that resolved before posting again.

I can't promise that I'll update while we are there - cell and internet can be spotty, so we'll see.  If I have time tonight, I'll post the rest of the Myrtle Beach pictures.

Thursday was a great day.  We went back to the Landmark Resort where our friends had so kindly arranged for us to have access to the resort's waterpark.  Noah LOVED the lazy river and took to it like a fish (or alligator) takes to water. :-)  We literally wrapped his torso in yards of Press-N-Seal and kept him in an inner tube so that his tummy and tubes would be out of the water.  It worked beautifully and his line stayed completely dry. 

Mary Faith was absolutely hilarious and kept loudly singing samba songs from the movie Rio as she drifted on the lazy river LOL.  I wish I'd been able to camcord her but pools aren't very camcorder friendly!

Mary didn't like the inner tubes (they were too big for her) but enjoyed going around the lazy river in her little ring with Hannah behind her holding on.  :-)

Matthew taking a turn holding on to Noah so I could take pictures.

The entire waterpark was almost empty and David got a kick out of stacking lots of inner tubes and going around in inner tube towers.  :-)

As the morning went on, Noah got more and more tired but he didn't want to get out.  I finally laid down in a double inner tube and he laid right down next to me - we drifted and dozed for nearly an hour while Jeff took the other children put-put golfing.  After four hours, we had to make the executive decision to pull him out so he could get hooked back up to his pumps.

We got back to the hotel for naps for the little ones.  The big boys went down to the pool at our hotel and Sarah and Hannah and I went down to the beach.  The tide was just starting to come in and the low tide had created a massive tidepool filled with hermit crabs!  Those of you who know my Sarah know that from that point on we had a massive hermit crab population in our room LOL.  It really was fun to pick them up along with lots of shells.  The low tide also allowed us to get out to a sandbar and the girls enjoyed exploring and splashing around.

That evening was really very special.  I wanted a chance to spend time on the beach with Noah without having to keep my eye on all of the other children.  Originally Jeff and I were going to take him down, but Jeff was tired from all that swimming so he offered to stay in the room and I took Hannah and Sarah down with Noah and I.  The city of Myrtle Beach provided a free beach wheelchair rental which made it MUCH easier for me to get Noah across all of the sand.

It was nearing sunset and the beach was empty.  After a few minutes of standing in the waves, Noah decided he wanted to build a sandcastle.  Sarah and Hannah happily scouted for shells for him to use.  It was a very quiet, low-key time and I think it just might be my favorite memory of our trip.  It's also one of the things Noah has spoken of the most.

Noah happily worked for well over an hour on his sandcastle which he called the Dragon Castle.  :-)

 

 

When he was finished, we called Daddy and some of the boys down for a grand tour of the Dragon Castle!

While Jeff was admiring Noah's work, I couldn't resist writing Noah's name in the sand at the water's edge.  I wrote and Hannah snapped - it took a few tries but we finally got one that I love.  I get teary every time I see and and can't decide if I want to frame it because I love it or not frame it because it chokes me up.  :-)

Off to finish packing.  Our truly amazing hospice team has contracted with a hospice group just a few miles away from the camp so we'll have nursing coverage while we're there if something comes up.  Noah needs extra prayers regarding his supra pubic catheter - there is some sort of positional problem and urine isn't draining if Noah is lying down.  This means that he's waking up wet every day again. :-(  The urologist said that it's almost always the opposite - that caths occlude when someone is upright - but that he's not surprised that Noah is once again doing exactly the opposite of what the doctors would expect.  We're going to ride it out while we're away - the urologist said that if he tried to manipulate it or replace it this soon after surgery, any complications could land Noah in the hospital and force us to cancel our trip.  The only "danger" right now is that Noah's a little discouraged about wearing diapers to bed, but he'd rather do that then miss going to camp.  The urologist jokingly suggested that we could duct tape Noah to the wall each night to keep him upright, but I think we'll just go with the diapers LOL.  We'll get home on Friday night and the next Monday we'll need to be in Greenville at 8 AM (sob, sob) for a VCUG (imaging of his bladder, kidneys, and the cath) followed up by a visit to the urologist to decide what to do next.  Please pray that this problem doesn't get any worse or turn into an emergency situation (for that matter, that NOTHING goes wrong while we're there) and that good, clear decisions can be made on Monday.

Blessings,
Kate