tokyo disneyland

...or not.

Wow, Japan seems like such a long time away.  I'll get back to the trip recap eventually.

I wasn't going to write about what happened at the end of the Band Camp performance, but since it relates to what's been happening this week, here we go.

Darrell collapsed after the performance, when we were getting ready to go home.  He had taken his meds at home, then went to UH and didn't eat anything, even though I had brought him something for dinner.  There were also leftovers from the kids' dinner, which he could have had since he helped set up and serve dinner, but he didn't eat that either.  So he wound up with too low blood sugar and passed out.  Luckily our friends were there to help and one had glucose tabs and the other got him juice that the kids were served with dinner.  He was ok after that, and luckily Ryan was able to drive the other car home, since we had come in separate cars.  Luckily he collapsed in plain sight of everyone; just a few minutes before that he had gone under the bleachers to look for his stadium cushion that had fallen down from the stands.  We would have had a hard time figuring out where he was and wouldn't have been able to get him help as quickly.

Friday night when he got home from helping at Band Camp, he wasn't feeling well either, which was probably the first sign that he was getting sick again.  But he still went to help out on Saturday (and had gone almost everyday up to Band Camp to help and watch practice).

On Sunday, he finally told me about the problem with the Scion, Ryan's "new" car.  Apparently, Aloha Kia sold us a car that shouldn't have even been on the road.  As mentioned earlier, I had noticed the tires looked flat, but was told some B.S. that they were "low-definition" tires so that's why they looked that way. So that I don't have to write it all over again, here's what I posted on Facebook:

"NOT happy with Aloha Kia's business practices: they sold us a used car, assuring us the tires were fine (even though I specifically questioned it). they said they check thoroughly that everything is fine. Turns out there were HOLES in the tires, one on the inside, and one rim was cracked and patched with silicone, another rim was bent.  When Darrell went to get the tires checked, the tire shop was going to condemn the car because it was too dangerous to drive the car AS IS. And that's how Aloha Kia sold the car, AS IS. Oh, but buy this entended warranty plan for $2200 and it will cover repairs (except tires). So it's costing us $1700 to replace the tires/rims. But HOW DARE they ENDANGER my family by selling us a dangerous car?"

So although Ryan LOVES his car, I am so NOT LOVING it.  I get emotional thinking about how dangerous it was to drive and how they risked my family's lives through their poor business practices.  Not to mention how they lowered Darrell's credit score by shopping around car loans on the internet. They should have just let us get our own loan, which we could have easily done through the credit union. We got a rejection letter from one place saying that his application was rejected due to "too many recent inquiries."  Just lovely.

Revolution Motorsports, who sold us the new tires/rims offered to write a letter to Aloha Kia on our behalf to let them know their findings.  Not sure if that will work as they could always claim that we damaged the tires. Hello, we wouldn't even THINK to try to fix them up the way whoever traded it in did. I'm mad that they didn't check more closely before reselling it to some unsuspecting customer.

BUT before we can do anything about that, when Ryan and Darrell had gone back to Revolution Motorsports on Monday, Darrell collapsed again!  He only ate a couple of pieces of toast that morning, definitely not enough to cover his blood-sugar-lowering meds.  Luckily Ryan caught him on the way down, though he did hit his chin a little on the counter.  Ryan immediately asked the guys there to bring something with sugar.  They called an ambulance, and Ryan was great briefing the EMTs on Darrell's medical history and the situation.  He was very calm and mature; I think I got more excited when he called me at work to tell me what had happened.  Someone was looking out for Darrell again, since he could have been on the road driving when this happened.  Ryan said they were leaving, then went back in to ask something else when it happened.

So Darrell is back in the hospital, and we found out that there is another infection in his foot again.  He had surgery on Tuesday to remove the infected parts and will be in the hospital until next week, to stay off his foot and also so that the infectious disease doctor can figure out the best antibiotic to fight the infection.  He's frustrated because his foot had finally been healing well (we thought).

And that's why Tokyo Disneyland seems like a lifetime away, even though it was just two months ago.