Why Mexico?

My company was planning a gathering for the engineering staff since we all work remotely. When they finalized the details, the location they picked was Cancún. They were okay with and supportive of us having our significant others come along.

The trip was amazing and we had lots of fun. It obviously met its purpose for work as we all got to meet and have fun together. We only get to do this once or twice a year so it’s really nice and important for team building. It was also really nice for Robyn to meet some of the people I work with and their significant others.

Why Now?

We’d been talking about traveling as something we could do in the future, especially since we’ve been introduced to the Rotary Flames House (RFH). Doctors and nurses would often ask us if we’d considered taking a trip together or getting out of town for a while.

When my company announced that our gathering would be in Cancún, we thought “wow, wouldn’t it be nice if we could both go”. We started thinking about how we could make it work and what we would have to do. We talked about it with Jared and Hannah, our closest friends (family, really) in Calgary. They encouraged us to go and said they would be more than happy to handle things in Calgary.

One thing that made the trip possible at this time was that Félip had been doing so well. His care was significantly easier to manage and he hadn’t been sick in a long time. We felt encouraged that he would probably be fine, especially with Jared and Hannah. We also kept thinking to ourselves that an opportunity like this might not present itself again.

What about Félip?

Félip spent the week at RFH. He enjoyed lots of cuddles and activities while he was there. Jared and Hannah went to visit him frequently and would send us pictures and videos. They attended music therapy with him and made sure the team had everything they needed.

Félip did give a scare on Sunday before we left (our plane left Monday morning). RFH called us at 6:00AM Sunday morning because he wasn’t doing so great. He had an increased amount of secretions and was struggling with his breathing. They had to give him oxygen and he still wasn’t improving. We went straight to the hospital across the street since they had called emergency medical services to transport him there. He calmed down shortly after we got there and was doing much better. He seemed to be back to his usual self, talking to us and wiggling around.

At this point we were a bit nervous. We started having second thoughts about the trip and the amount of work and stress we were putting on Jared and Hannah.

Félip was discharged from the hospital and we were able to bring him back to RFH. They assured us that everything was fine and we should feel comfortable leaving him again. In the meantime, as we were talking to Jared and Hannah, they also assured us that they would handle things, even if he needed to be admitted at the hospital or needed to come home early. They said they would handle whatever came up and we had nothing to worry about.

Retrospective

We’re glad we went on the trip. We missed Félip so much during the whole time but it gives us an appreciation of our day to day life. We also got to do things we could never do with him which is sometimes refreshing.

That being said, I don’t think we’ll be going on another trip like this and leaving Félip behind. At least not for a long time. We would rather be able to take him with us, like when we go hiking in the mountains or maybe if we plan a road trip in the future.

The reality is that leaving Félip at RFH for an extended period of time involved a tremendous amount of preparation and stress. Furthermore, even with RFH being as awesome as they are, Félip’s regular routine cannot be maintained 100%. We’re now noticing that he benefits quite a bit from some of the daily exercises and activities we do with him at home.

We just feel like the preparation, stress and the catching up involved upon our return didn’t justify our time away. We think we would benefit much more from having regular scheduled blocks of respite for a few hours once or twice a week. We could use that time to have a date night or just get out of the house for a while. We just don’t feel like being away from him for several days or weeks benefits any of us.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder, right?

As always… Love. Laugh. Repeat.