Part 2 Mickey Mouse Sucks

I dont want to finish this story. But I have to.

I never understood the attraction of a blog or writing things down but it is somehow easier to forget about it after you do.

Or mabye I just get to tell my side of the story.

We do not have any money. A combination of... Cancer? Ok lets live for today! and Fat Bastard stealing our store leaving us in lots and lots of debt.

So you get it. We dont have enough money for extras or even just the basics.
A trip is something that would take us forever to save up for.

And we did. We worked all year at the store and saved up all our money to go to Disneyworld. Daughter #3 and #4 had never been there. We planned on closing the store for the week we were there. We had to go to a sports show in Orlando so it was the perfect chance to get more products for the store and visit Mickey and Goofy.

I never even thought of it when I left for Reno. That is not true actually. I really thought I would fly to Reno, find out that Tizzy was fine and then I would return home in plenty of time to leave for Disney.

I tried to change the trip. Couldnt... I wanted to stay in Reno with my sister. Couldnt... I had to go to Disney. Who says that? I HAD to go to Disney. But I did.

So we are in Reno and its Wednesday now, I am skipping around I know but this part is important. And my flight is scheduled for Friday, 6am, Laguardia Airport, NY. To Disneyworld.

I agonized over this decision. My sister said "No...Go" but I didnt believe she meant it. I wanted someone to be with her at all times.

Wow this story is so big. Bigger maybe than 2 parts.

My mother says she will fly out to Reno, but she doesnt want to fly alone. Tizzys father and brother arrive in Reno the same day we do only later in the day. Tizzys mother wants to come to Reno but she is sitting with her youngest daughter, Tizzys sister in Sloan Kettering in NY while she undergoes treatment for the same cancer as hubby.?????? I know long story. Unbelievable? My life reads like a soap opera.

Tizzys mother says she can leave on Friday but my mother doesnt want my sister to be alone if I leave Thursday night in time to fly home to NY to fly to Disney.

I havent even touched on Tizzy yet and his injury. That makes the difference here. His prognosis is grim. The doctors say they have seen people with worse injuries get better and the ones with less injuries die. They just dont know. My sister should not be alone. Just in case.

When we arrive, we get to the hospital and a nurse comes to greet us in the waiting room of the ICU. She says Ok he looks pretty bad. He is in a coma and he has wires sticking out of his head and all over his body to monitor his vital signs. He is broken and bruised and right now we should just talk to him and be aware that he may hear us. The doctor will talk to us after we see him and give us an update.

I hold my sisters hand. We walk in together to the ICU. Tizzy is in the corner, he has wires sticking out of his head, I mean right out of his forehead. The two friends he was snowboarding with are there. They are totally overwhelmed. They cant look my sister in the face.

Ok cut to the chase... Tizzy has broken every bone on the left side of his face. He has damaged the front temporal lobes and his left ear is severed. Months later we find out he has broken his shoulder but right now the doctors dont care and think I am crazy that I keep bringing it up. His face is so swollen he is unrecognizable. He is on a breathing machine, an ICP( for all you nonmedical personnel,that is Internal Cranial Pressure) lots of other monitors, all scary.

He has come in at the lowest number on the Glasgow Coma Scale. A three. 3 means that he is unresponsive to pain, to verbal instructions, and unable to breathe on his own. People on the lowest level of the Glasgow Coma Scale dont live. There is no sign of life. Everything points to the end. I dont know if we knew how bad the coma scale thing was. It doesnt ring a bell until later in my memory.

Well you get the idea. Tizzy is in a dire situation, my sister is 6 months pregnant, I have to leave for Disney and my mother cant come until Tizzys mother can leave her daughter to fly with my mother. My mother wants to get other people to fly with her and leave earlier than Friday. Tizzys mother is mad because she wants those same people to fly with her on Friday. My family thinks his family is selfish, we think Merry should have someone with her at all times.

All hell breaks loose.

We are staying in Harrahs in a giant suite because the friend who was with Tizzy snowboarding is really his boss who is a kabillionaire and feels so bad about the accident. We have the high rollers suite in a casino in the biggest little city in the world.

We are in the hospital all day. I make her eat. She could be anorexic on a good day. Stress stops her from eating. I just want Ben and Jerrys, but there is none to be found. And who could eat Ben and Jerrys with the pregnant women when she eats bananas.

We check into the "playas" suite at Harrahs, side note Howie Mandel is playing there, long before he made a comeback on Deal or No Deal. And we are wiped out. The news is not good but right now it is not especially bad either.

We order a fruit platter. I know! Who the hell eats fruit in a crisis? She does which is probably why she is skinny and I am dumpy.

There is a knock on the door. It is Tizzys dad with Tizzys boss. Tizzys dad is 6'5" and is very intimidating. Tizzys boss is 5'6" and is a giant wuss.

Tizzys dad is ignorant and rude and yelling at my sister. What? How could anyone do that to a pregnant women who is in danger of losing her husband?
He is saying that she is being selfish by wanting my mother to come on Thursday instead of Friday. He is loud and he is mean. He is saying things I dont even care to repeat.

And my sister is yelling back at first. Then she is crying and sobbing and he will not stop. She is screaming and hyperventilating and saying things like if Tizzy dies you will never see your grandchild. The small boss stands by.

I am the most nonconfrontational person you will ever know. I have opened my mouth on very few occasions. But this is one of them.

I scream to Tizzys dad " Get out, get the hell out. Leave her alone."
He finally leaves. Merry is hysterical. Not just crying over this but sobbing over it all. Sobbing because her Tizzy is in a coma and he may never see their child. Sobbing because we are in Reno, Nevada and even with it being the Biggest Little City in the World, we dont want to be there. Sobbing Sobbing Sobbing. I call my parents from the 400 square foot bathroom with the dual showers and the whirlpool tub. My dad talks to her and somehow calms her down.

I dont know how but we sleep a little.

The story goes something like this....
Tizzy, bossman and supermike decide to take one more run down the mountain. It is in the afternoon and they have probably been drinking for hours.

They get off the lift and right away Tizzy is losing his balance and he starts to fall backwards. He is a master snowboarder, better than anyone he is with.

He falls backward, over a cliff, off the mountain, head first, onto a rock. 5 feet down. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

Head smashes against a rock. Broken Tizzy falling down.

His friends thought he was kidding. Get up Tizzy they say. Why isnt Tizzy moving? What is the red stuff pooling around his body?

They said the blood coming out of his body sounded like milk being poured from a gallon.

They scream for help. There is an angel who arrives. He helps control the bleeding. He gives Tizzy mouth to mouth. He dissapears when the mountain patrol gets there.

Tizzy is airlifted to Washoe Head Trauma Center. He aspirates in the helicopter. He almost dies multiple times. His friends drive from Tahoe to Reno. It takes them hours to drive around the mountains and the whole time they have no idea whether or not Tizzy is alive or dead. They call Tizzys parents, no one wants to tell the pregnant wife.

Tizzys sister calls us and that is where this story just begins.

Part 3 tomorrow. Disney is hell for me. It makes me think of comas and sadness, not happiness or princesses. For me its all about the time that a brain injury stole my brother in law, my friend, my kids uncle. Theres no magic in the kingdom for me. None.