About 10 years ago my dad ruptured a disc in his neck and had a surgery to fuse the vertebrae together. All went well and it fixed the problem. They actually put a cadaver bone in his neck, so that is pretty cool. Anyway last summer he injured his neck again, which is common I guess if you have already had a fusion. It puts more stress on the surrounding vertebrae which can cause them to weaken and then to also rupture. So he ruptured two more discs in his neck and it really put him out for quite a while. He got some steroid shots to reduce the inflammation, but it finally came to the point of needing another surgery to fix the problem. He started doing some research on mechanical discs and found that his insurance wouldn't cover a mechanical disc due to a lack of FDA approval for someone with a previous fusion. So the cost would have to come out of pocket, although that cost would be somewhere in the $50,000 range. So they started to look at some other options. They learned about a hospital in Thailand that would do the surgery for around $20,000. After a lot of consideration they decided to go to Thailand and have the mechanical disc put in. This occurred at the beginning of December, so the goal was for them to be back home for Christmas. The surgery was a huge success, they loved the hospital, the Dr.'s and the entire experience was very positive. They actually spent most of the three weeks they were there sight seeing. In the meantime I had been talking to my mom through instant messenger late at night for her and early in the morning for me. (the time difference was crazy). The plan had been for us to go to my parents house for Christmas, but I decided to lie and tell them that we couldn't come due to Tim's Dr appointments. He was in the midst of getting endoscopy's and colonoscopy's to find out why his iron levels were so low. It was so hard to lie to them. They sounded so sad. My dad emailed me and just sounded so depressed that we had to cancel coming. They kept asking if there wasn't something we could work out so we could come. I felt so bad but kept telling them that we just couldn't come. At the same time I was conspiring with my brother (who was the only one who knew we were really coming, even my sisters didn't know) about time lines and schedules for the holidays.It was a very long drive. We actually stopped in Logan for a day to get some rest after driving all night, and to spend some time before the holidays with Tim's parents. Then we were off again. We had great weather driving through Idaho, Montana and all the passes. We arrived at my parents house in the evening and pulled up to the front of the house and parked. We all got out and walked up to the front door. Chathum had previously told the girls that he had a big Christmas present for them but they would have to wait till that night to have it. So we rang the door bell and waited. Taryn answered the door and we yelled, Merry Christmas. It was a fun surprise. We were so happy to be there. The drive had been long, and the kids had done great.
So we spent the next day getting things ready for my parents to get home. We ended up having Christmas Eve on the 25th after they got into Spokane, so we could have Christmas together. We got a call in the afternoon on the 25th that their flight was getting in about 3 hours early, so the kids made a sign and we got everybody bundled up and headed to the airport. When we got there Tim and I stood around the corner with the girls and the kids and we had only Chathum stand where my parents could see coming out of the Airport. So after coming out and seeing Cha they hugged and then turned to head to the baggage claim and we got to shout "Surprise" Taryn and Isaac held the sign and shouted with us. It was a great surprise. There was much hugging and crying. My parents were so tired and I am sure this was just the breaking point for them. They were very happy to be home and we were so happy to see them.
