Yeah, we are going to the zoo! It is taking a great deal of planning, as all our endeavors do, to put together the next item on that bucket list of Sam's. Sam has never been to a large zoo, as I have spoke of before. Well, we are marking our calenders! May 15th is the target day. There will be Sam's mom and one of her sisters coming from Florida to share this time, as well as a niece and great-nephew from Tennessee, her grandson from Missouri, her daughter Jazzy and her fiance' Matt, her son Derrick, myself and two of my teens, and yes, even our hard working other halves will be joining us! We will be going to the Cincinnati Zoo. Outings like this take allot of planning for MSA patients. MSA is typical with the patient not being able to remain hydrated so well, they can not regulate their body temperatures and being on the go tends to drop their blood pressure. We will have to pack things like a cooler for liquids to keep on demand (instead of standing in long lines) and to do this we must call ahead and obtain permission as most of these type of places will not allow outside food or beverages. Blood pressure cuff will be included to monitor the pressures as we always do, every few hours. We will take a week's worth of medications because you have to be prepared in case something does happen. We will have to have preferences for Sam with the bathrooms and make sure we locate all rest areas along the trails to get her cool. My daughter said she is going to make sure we have portable fans...lol. An umbrella would be good to go on her chair, but Sam refuses, she says she doesn't like to draw attention to herself. Wow, I never thought I would hear that come out of Sam's mouth! Sam is a go getting rock and roller that loves being different. We may have to revisit this idea though as some of the medications an MSA takes to treat the symptoms make them sensitive to the sun and will burn very easily. MSA patients usually can't feel when they are burning either, we will have to watch this closely. This will be a two hour drive from where we live to take this trip. While it doesn't seem long to most, it is long for Sam. We will cope with muscle cramps and bathroom breaks along the way. A trip like this is of huge magnitude and is a once in a life time ordeal for us all to be in such a group of family and friends. What a great day it will be for us all. We will make sure to take the cameras as I am sure we will want to share our day with you all!
Like a bunch of kids....Yippee, Yippee, Yippee...we are going to the zoo!
Your blogs are really interesting especially with all of the planning that is involved with the MSA. I did not realize that on the go, had the challenges of maintaining hydration and body temperature as well. Glad Sam spent the day at the zoo with family, as well as yourself
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