Good Karma, bad toes

I got 3 glorious hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. Wil is steadily improving and no longer needs me for everything, which is a huge relief to both of us. He hates having to be the big baby, and I just need a break!

The vampire (aka phlebotomy team) even let us sleep in a bit, not coming in until closer to 7 rather than the usual 4 a.m. Nice.

Of course, the excitement was short-lived as the podiatrist arrived just moments later to come and do the deed. You know, in a lot of countries they reserve the art of pulling out toenails as a form of torture. I suppose those poor souls don't have the combination of lidocaine and morphine to keep them comfortable, though. In all honesty, it was no big deal at all for Wil. However, it's not something I suggest you be a witness to if you're in any way queasy. I've got a pretty strong stomach, but I had to look away. Blech!

After he was bandaged and comfortably resting I went and picked up J from Abuela's and took him home with me for a while. I thought that just being back in his familiar surroundings and routines would do him a world of good. So we hung out, he helped me do the dishes, we watched a DVR-ed episode of Wonder Pets, had some lunch and took a trip to the library. From the library, the plan was to bring him up here with me to visit his Dada, which he was all excited about. Unfortunately, he fell asleep in the carseat on the way, so I ended up dropping him back off at Abuelas feeling a bit guilty about it all. I know he woke up heartbroken and disappointed.

The regular doctor came for a visit while I was away and told Wil that things are going well and that with any luck we'll be out of here in a couple more days. His white count is still high, but declining, and I can see that the redness and swelling in his leg is subsiding. Yay! We're both restless and ready to get the heck out of here. I'm pretty sure that if they decide to keep him for another night, he's going to have to do it alone. I just can't sleep in this chair, away from my kid, for another night. It's killing me.

I had to to something today that I have been dreading and avoiding for a few days--I had to make the phonecall to the airlines to cancel my flight. Now, you might remember that last year when I took this very same trip we woke up in the morning to a county so thick with smoke from a 1000 acre brushfire that the highway patrol had closed down every road between here and Orlando making it impossible to get to the airport. We went through absolute hell and almost $300 worth of cell minutes to get me on a flight the next day, and even then it was only after arguing ourselves blue and talking to every supervisor, etc at the airline. So, you can imagine my trepidation at making this call. I had no expectation of it going well at all, and honestly, I wasn't even in the mood to argue. I was willing to go along with whatever cancellation fees they wanted to charge me, so long as I could use the rest to go towards the purchase of future tickets.

So I called and got a sweet little thang with a southern accent that could melt butter on the phone. I explained my circumstances as to why I wasn't going to be able to get on the plane and asked her if I could transfer the tickets to later dates, that I was aware of their $60 rescheduling fee, and that I'd have to pay any difference in the prices, and that I wasn't really prepared to make any new dates just yet. This sweetheart of a girl quickly issued a refund to my account in the amount of the tickets minus the fee, explained how I could access it for future purchase, and then as I was thanking her for her help, she asked if I could hold for a moment. Of course I could. I've got nothing but time, right? She comes back a second later and says "Ma'am, I've been given clearance to waive that cancellation fee. I've refunded the full amount of your purchase to your rewards membership plan."

Oh. My. God.

She did that for me. Without being asked to. Without any prompting but the kindness in her own heart. I was at a loss for words. It literally brought tears to my eyes that someone out there still has enough compassion in their hearts to extend a bit of kindness to an absolute stranger when just last year with a totally separate airline I was forced to get mean, ugly, downright nasty just to be allowed to reschedule my flight with a payment of a significant fee.

So thank you to Michelle of AirTran airways customer service. You were an angel to me when I really needed one, and you totally made my day.

And since this really has become long, I will wish you all goodnight and file another report tomorrow, hopefully one with words like "we're going home" somewhere in it.