At about 10:40am we gathered our things and headed out to the mini-van and we realized we couldn’t find my car keys. You may remember that my keys have been missing since October. One call to my son revealed that he had the keys to my van with him and he was about 30 minutes north of where we live…Thankfully, my mother-in-law was in the area and she was able to bring us to the hospital.

I checked in at 11:02am and my husband and I were taken to the pre-op area and my son and mother-in-law went to the pre-op waiting area. For the next hour I was treated very well by the pre-op nurses and technicians as I was prepped for surgery. I met with the anesthesiologist and finally my surgeon came in and we discussed my desire to keep my ovaries if at all possible. Then we were just waiting for the daVinci robot to be cleaned and turned around from the previous surgery. My son and mother-in-law took turns coming to see me and then my pastor and assistant pastor each came in and prayed with my husband and I. I was feeling very calm, even before they added the Versed to my IV. I was more concerned for my husband and I was glad he would have plenty of support while I was in surgery.

At about 12:40pm a surgical nurse came and said they were ready to start a little early so I kissed my husband and told him I loved him and then they wheeled me down the hall to surgery. the nurse anesthetist introduced himself and patted me on the shoulder and honestly that is all I remember!

Two and a half hours later I woke up to someone calling my name. I was in the recovery room! After I came around a bit they removed the oxygen mask from my face and asked me if I wanted to see my husband…ummm YES! He came in, with tears of love, and relief in his eyes and kissed me and told me everything went very well and I was able to keep both of my ovaries! Ron stayed with me for a little bit and then he went back out to the waiting area, where my parents had joined the rest of my crowd. They hooked up a Morphine Pump, which I used a few times, and I steadily became more alert while the nurse kept checking my vitals and trying to find me a room to go to. Finally, she asked if I would mind being on the Pediatric floor in a private room. I said I didn’t mind at all. She asked me this question several times as I woke up, probably because some women who have had hysterectomies are mourning the loss of their ability to have children and as such, Pediatrics wouldn’t be the best place for them.

Shortly thereafter I was taken to room 442. Along the way they wheeled me through the surgical waiting room and in God’s perfect timing my oldest son had just popped in to drop off my husband’s truck and get my younger son to go to church so I got to briefly kiss both of my kids before they headed off, thank you Jesus! My husband and my parents accompanied me to my room. the Purple Panda room! My parents didn’t stay long, just long enough to know I was ok. Ron stayed with me for quite a while. The nurse even offered to bring him a bed so he could spend the night with me. At first I said I wanted him to stay, but that was because I was still groggy. We spent the evening watching TV and then at 7:30pm Ron logged into the WDW Radio Live Wednesday Night Newscast so we could hear about all the fun our friends were having during the One More Disney Day Celebration. It was soothing to hear my friend Lou Mongello talk about Disney World and it helped me take my mind off of what I had just been through.

At about 9:30pm I told Ron he could go home, IF he promised to be back first thing the next morning. He left at about 10pm and dozed on and off until 1am. At 1:00am I was finally feeling awake. My nurse came in to take my vitals and give me meds. She also brought me water and a breathing exercise thing to use every hour to make sure my lungs stay clear and I don’t get pneumonia. I spent the rest of the night watching television and doing my breathing treatments at 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30 etc every hour…

I was amazed that though I had some discomfort I didn’t have any real pain. I only used my magic morphine button once after midnight, which I thought was a pretty good feat! I am so thankful to Dr Hradek and all of the staff at Manatee Memorial Hospital for all of their wonderful care. I’ll share my post-op adventures in another post on another day.

The post Surgery Day appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Day 2 of Disney Social media Moms was such a whirlwind I know I’m not going to be able to do it justice in tis post. The day started off with a delicious breakfast at Citricos, where I had the pleasure of dining with Jackie Gailey and 2 of the most handsome men at the conference…Chris Brogan and Lou Mongello.

After a delicious breakfast and great conversation we headed to the Grand Floridian Conference Center, where we would spend most of the day. I was blessed to find a seat front and center with my friends Molly Gold, Amy Lupold Bair, Shannan Powell, Fiona Bryan and Shellie Ross. The conference enter was beautifully decorated and the attention to detail really helped build the excitement for what lay ahead.

First up was Meg Crofton, President of Walt Disney World. She welcomed us to the conference and shared some fun facts about what it takes to run Walt Disney World. Did you know that, resort laundry processes 300,000 pounds of linens and towels daily?  It would take you 27 years and 2 loads every day at home to finish what they do in one day!

Next, Matt Jacobsen, Head of Market Development for Facebook shared some different ways for us to utilize Facebook to get our message out. We need to look at Facebook as one way to distribute our message. There was a very insightful question  and answer time after his talk and Matt seemed very interested in the concerns we, mom bloggers, have about how to separate our personal and professional pages as well as security.

The highlight of the day for me was our next speaker, Rene Syler aka Good Enough Mother. Rene was my favorite because she is “every woman”. Rene was real, honest and transparent. Rene had us crying and laughing during her talk about authenticity and re-inventing yourself. Rene has been through a lot since her days anchoring the Early Show on CBS, but she hasn’t let her problems get her down, she has powered through and she is coming back on top. Though most of us in that room haven’t been fired from a high profile job or had breast cancer we could all relate to Rene on one level or another to her heartfelt message. I’ll admit it…I have a bit of a girl crush on Rene (grin). We have actually conversed a lot lately on Twitter partly because of our campaign to get her on Dancing with the Stars. If you haven’t signed our linky/petition please take a second to do that now.

Lunch was back at Citricos and again it was delicious! Then we had a little break before our afternoon session which kicked off with a visit from Duffy Bear! Then Chris Brogan spoke about developing a community and working together instead of tearing each other down. Then 2 ladies I had honestly never hear of took the stage, Georgia Stitt on piano and Susan Egan on vocals. I may not have recognized their names but as soon as Susan began singing I recognized her voice. I am a huge fan of Disney music and Susan was both the voice of Megera in Disney’s Hercules and she was Belle in the original Broadway cast of Beauty and the Beast. The Disney fan in me loved the Disney songs they performed but the musician in me loved the original pieces, most written by Georgia, that were true slice of life songs that touched my heart.

I headed back to the room to meet up with my family. They had spent the day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and their goal for the day was to break their record of riding Rock ‘n Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith. Their record, set in December 2010 was 10 times. I am proud to say that on March 18, 2011 they both rode it 12 times in one day! Congratulations boys!

Hidden Mickey in the Motorcycle Shop window

After freshening up, we boarded buses to take us back to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for our dinner and Disney Junior Dance Party on the set of Lights, Motor, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. It was very exciting to be down on the set and get to see the buildings. My friend Steve Barrett aka Hidden Mickey Guy was giddy being on the set because it meant he was close to a hidden Mickey he had never really seen well before. What was even cooler is, he couldn’t wait to show it to my kids! I hope you enjoy my video of the fun we had at the party.

 

The post Disney Social Media Moms Day 2 Recap appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Recently Lou published guides #4 and 5, Liberty Square and Mickey’s Toontown Fair. Lou’s Audio Guides are filled with stories and details that you don’t find in any guide book. Listening to Lou’s guides you learn about the architecture and the story behind the story to the buildings, rides and attractions. The Audio Guides are perfect for the Disney fanatic who thinks they know everything there is to know-because they too will learn some thing. It is also perfect for someone who has yet to make it to the park but has always dreamed of going. Lou’s vivid descriptions enable the listener to picture the park in their mind’s eye and enjoy a mini-vacation-no matter where they are when they listen.

Liberty Square

The Liberty Square Audio Guide takes time to explain why there is this corner of the Magic Kingdom dedicated to American history. You will also learn how the story flows from Fantasyland into Liberty Square and why the buildings are built where they are and in the different colonial era styles. Unfortunately many of us don’t slow down and really take in the beauty and the history of Liberty Square…and we should-the details are amazing.

After listening to the Liberty Square Audio Guide I was inspired to spend some time there last week and snap a few pictures of the Liberty Tree and some buildings.

Mickey’s Toon Town Fair Audio Guide was not scheduled to be the next guide released but when Walt Disney World announced that Toon Town would be demolished to make way for the expansion of Fantasyland, Lou knew his production schedule would have to be changed. He worked diligently so that he could release the guide while Toon Town is still open and I’m glad he did. I listened to this guide on my drive to the Magic Kingdom last week and it inspired me to take some time and enjoy Toon Town before it is gone for good. On the Audio Guide Lou explains the history of the area now know as Mickey’s Toon Town Fair. It has very temporary beginnings as Mickey’s Birthdayland and then became Mickey’s Starland before becoming Mickey’s Toon Town Faire. I hope to go back one more time, with my iPod in tow so that I can wander this special land, where Mickey Mouse and his friends vacation, while listening to Lou weave the story behind the one place you can be guaranteed to meet Mickey Mouse.

In case I don’t get the opportunity to go back again, I took a lot of pictures last week, I hope you enjoy them.

You can purchase any of Lou Mongello’s Audio Guides to Walt Disney World from Lou’s website. They are available on CD for $8.99 or as a Digital Download for $6.99. They would make unique Christmas gifts for the Disney lover in your family.

Disclosure: I received a free digital download of each of these Audio Guides for the purpose of this review. All opinions are 100% mine.

The post Lou Mongello’s Audio Guide to Walt Disney World 4 and 5 appeared first on The Mom Maven.

On my trip to Disney World last week for the Princess Tiana event, we listened to the Audio Guide to Main Street USA during our 1.5 hour drive. Lou, a talented wordsmith, takes his listeners on a very detailed, educational and entertaining trip down Main Street. Many people don’t know or understand why each window and store on Main Street USA have names of companies and their proprietors etched on them. Walt Disney used these windows as the credits of the “show” that is the Magic Kingdom. In these windows are the names of people who are important to the Disney family, the history of Disney animation and Walt Disney World itself. Lou explains every window and door on Main Street USA.  He explains the history of the different stores and buildings as well as the vehicles that travel up and down the street.

If you are a huge Disney fan, a history buff, or even someone who may be visually impaired-you want to own these audio guides. I pride myself in knowing a lot about Walt Disney World and every time I listen to Lou’s audio guides I learn something new. Here is a preview of the Main Street USA Audio Guide.

If you would like to purchase your own set of all 3 audio guides you can do so on the WDW Radio site.

Even though I would like to keep them for my collection, I have decided to give away the Audio Guide to Fantasyland and the Audio Guide to Adventureland to one lucky reader of The Mom Maven.
Mandatory 1st Entry visit Lou’s website, click on podcasts and take a look through the topics of his podcasts. Come back here and leave me the date of the podcast and what topic interested you.

Bonus Entries may be completed after the mandatory 1st entry

*Tweet This up to 1x per day leave the tweet URL in your comment: You can win @LouMongello ‘s Audio Guides to WDW from @MomMaven http://bit.ly/2yAX4N #giveaway

*Subscribers get 1 entry

*Followers get 1 entry

*Follow Lou on Twitter

*Become a fan of WDW Radio on Facebook

The winner will be chosen on 11/12/09 at 10:00pm ET by Random.org. US residents only please leave a valid e-mail or Twitter handle with your entries.

The post Audio Guides to Walt Disney World appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Congratulations to Renee!She is the winner of the 2 Walt Disney World Audio Guides. Don’t forget to check out WDWRadio.com and @LouMongello on Twitter and thank him for sponsoring this giveaway.

The post Day 8 Winner-Disney Audio Guides appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Today’s giveaway is for 2 of Lou’s WDW Radio products first a copy of the third issue of Celebrations Magazine. This issue is sold out and no longer available to the general public-I wish I had one for myself-but this is for you. Check out the Celebrations Magazine website here.

The second item in this giveaway is a Disney Trivia Page-a-Day calendar.

How do you enter to win these 2 awesome Disney prizes?

Mandatory Entry:

Visit WDWradio.com and check out all that Lou has to offer. Since today is the Disney Hollywood Studios 20th anniversary, check out the DHS trivia section of the website and find out how many attractions there were on opening day 5/1/89. Leave your answer in the comments.

Bonus entries: Leave a separate comment for each one you complete.

• subscribe to my blog’s RSS feed
• fave this blog on MomFaves (click on the button in the right side bar)
• follow Lou @loumongello and I @MomMaven on Twitter

This giveaway is open to US Residents only. A winner will be chosen Friday, May 8th 8:00pm. Good luck!

The post Day 1 of 10 Days of Celebrating Moms-Giveaway for The Disney Mom appeared first on The Mom Maven.