Bradley’s Severe Cortical Visual Impairment Blog

Home, Glorious Home!

June 24th, 2009

We made it!! Okay, so its been almost a week but really, I needed that week to catch up on sleep, laundry, cleaning, and life! We had quite the adventure getting home last week.  We arrived at the airport at 9:30 in the morning for our flight to Beijing. Our flight was 2 hours delayed because of weather problems in Beijing.  After 4 hours total of waiting in the airport, they approved us to take off.  We loaded the plane and then after they closed the airplane door, they said the weather was too bad again and we had to wait it out, ON THE PLANE!! We waited again for almost 2 hours in the airplane.  Yes, with a 2 year old and 4 year old its not the most pleasant thing.  Jason and I were very concerned that we weren’t going to make our connection and prayed and prayed we’d make it there in time to get home, meaning America.  Finally our airplane was cleared to take off.  We thought we’d be okay and we’re relieved to get our plane in the air.  But, the nightmare didn’t end there.  I was watching the little map thing they have on the big screen and it shows you where you plane is on the map and marks where you’ve come from and where you’re headed.  About 20 minutes out of Beijing, I see our plane do a 180 turn.  I looked at Jason and said, “why is our plane turning around?” fearing the worst.  Sure enough, they made an announcement that we were headed back to Qingdao.  I was sick, I started to cry and felt hopeless. Here we were, we’d traveled for 7 hours with two small kids and we were headed back to Qingdao and didn’t speak a lick of Chinese and had no clue what we were going to do next!

Well, we landed in Qingdao and here’s where we see the little tender mercies that we have been so blessed with our entire trip.  On the same flight was a couple from Canada/US who were headed to Beijing and then on to Singapore.  They both spoke Chinese and the wife spoke was very fluent.  We had met this couple 2 weeks prior at a McDonald’s downtown.  We started talking with them there and had a pretty in depth conversation with them as to why we were in China and what we were doing.  We ran into them before our flight originally left Qingdao and chatted again and they asked how Bradley’s treatments had gone.  They were wonderful people.  Anyway, when we landed we went to the ticket counter and I said, “English?” Everybody looked at me like “are you crazy?” and I felt my heart sink.  We were totally turked.  Then this woman came up and smiled at me and started speaking chinese to the ticket counter lady and told me that we needed to wait it out or find another flight.  Jason and I asked them if we could tag along with them for a while since we had no clue what was going on.  They were more than willing to help our little family figure everything out.   The wife, Sherry, took Jason to the ticket counter while the husband, Ian, took the boys and I into the first class lounge to wait until it was all figured out.  The airport was mad chaos!  The boys were on edge and I was on the verge of  breaking down at any moment. It was the hugest relieve to get away from the chaos and sit on the couches with the boys and Ian.  Bradley fell asleep and Tyler played with Ian the entire time! It was such a blessing.  After one and half hours, Sherry came back and told me that Jason was upstairs with Wendy from the hospital and a shuttle from the hotel was taking us to the Holiday Inn for the night.  We were going to fly out in the morning and go through Korea on Korean Air and get home that way instead.  The ticket lady from the airport helped me and the boys get to Jason and the shuttle.  I wanted to kiss and hug Sherry and Ian and even now I get emotional to think of what they did for us.  They didn’t worry about how they were going to get of China but devoted themselves 100% to our family for almost 2 hours to make sure we were okay and could get home as soon as possible.  They were angels. 

Wendy from the hospital was fabulous.  She had called the hotel and we made it back to the hotel by 7:30 and had a wonderful dinner, nice showers and the boys were champions.  Never once were they a problem the entire day, even though it was a nightmare.  Jason and I were very emotional as we sat in the hotel that night and thought how everything had come about.  We both felt save and knew that everything with our flight happened for a reason and we felt very good about the changes that were made and were ready to try again the next day.  We joked about the fact that we had traveled for 10 hours, 700 miles and had a net gain of 1 mile! I could look out the window and see the Qingdao People’s hospital. 

The next day went along slick as a whistle.  Wendy took us to the airport again, with a new airline and personal escorts the entire way until we sat on the plane.  What a blessing that was!! The boys traveled like champs and even slept for 9 1/2 of the 11 hour flight! It was a breeze and we made it home on Wednesday night around 5:00. 

We were welcomed home to a decorated yard and garage from the girls in the ward.  Our fridge and cupboards were full of food and yummy dinner was in the fridge ready to be heated and eaten.  It was amazing and we were so happy to know that we are surrounded by wonderful people/family who love us and have supported us throughout this entire adventure! Thank you to all for EVERYTHING!

We are all adjusted to the time and have finally been able to all sleep in our own beds all night! (It took a little $5 bribe in Tyler’s case but it worked and was well worth it!)

Still no progress with Bradley’s eyes.  His legs are strong and we continue to see improvements in his bowels.  It’s truly amazing and we already feel our trip has been worth it.  We will keep updating the blog as weeks go on and hope for continued progress.

Entry Filed under: severe cortical visual impairment Blog,Uncategorized