Garga Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 (edited) We were supposed to pick him up tonight at 7:00. I found out last night at 10:30 that he has pneumonia and he can't come. There's a super slim chance that after he takes 10 days of meds, the doctors will let him come. He was supposed to be here for 28 days. If he takes his meds and then travels for a day, we could have about 16 or 17 days with him. Guys--I'm trying not to be super disappointed, but I am and so are the kids. I got terrible sleep last night. Once I got the news, I figured I might as well sleep in, so I set my alarm for 8:30. But all night I kept waking up thinking, "I can't sleep in! I have to prepare for Iker!" And then it would come crashing back to me that he's not coming. An hour later, "I can't sleep in! I have to prepare for Iker!" And then I'd remember again. I keep thinking, "Maybe I just imagined that he's not coming and at 7:00 they'll call me wondering where I am..." But Iker! He must be heartbroken. I mean, we're sad not to have a guest, but to have your entire trip cancelled to another country hours before you were going to get on board the plane has to be crushing. What do you think the odds are that the doctors will let him travel (12 hour flight) after 10 days of meds for pneumonia? Edited June 28, 2017 by Garga_ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenn in FL Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 :grouphug: I am so sorry! You have been planning for months to make this a wonderful experience for both Iker and your family. Is it possible to 'do something' tonight to get out of the house for a bit just to take the edge off of the disappointment? Not to "fix it" by any stretch. Just thinking of an outing or a small diversion...even something like going for ice cream. Again, I am so sorry for all of you. Please keep us updated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeachyDoodle Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 How disappointing for everyone! Is there any way the organizing group would be able to arrange to extend his stay (if he gets to come) or let him come at a later date? The good news is that he is young and probably will recover quickly, so maybe there is a chance he will still come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 :grouphug: I am so sorry! You have been planning for months to make this a wonderful experience for both Iker and your family. Is it possible to 'do something' tonight to get out of the house for a bit just to take the edge off of the disappointment? Not to "fix it" by any stretch. Just thinking of an outing or a small diversion...even something like going for ice cream. Again, I am so sorry for all of you. Please keep us updated. That might work. All school year, I had planned field trips for us to take in the summer. When we decided to host a student, we figured we'd take him on the trips with us. I have a field trip planned for Friday. I told the boys we're still going on it and they brightened up a little bit. How disappointing for everyone! Is there any way the organizing group would be able to arrange to extend his stay (if he gets to come) or let him come at a later date? The good news is that he is young and probably will recover quickly, so maybe there is a chance he will still come! Hmmm. I wonder if they can do that? Part of what the students pay for is to be taken on bus trips to New York City and Washington DC and Baltimore with their group. If he comes later or extends, he'll miss those trips. Right now, he'll definately miss 2 of them. They won't be able to get him on those trips at a later date, I'm sure, so I don't know what they do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 (edited) Oh! I thought of a good thing! We're just so disappointed today that I keep forgetting this part: One of the host families can't be home with their student 3 days a week. They couldn't get off work. They really were scrambling to think of what to do with their student on those three days each week. I offered that I could drive the hour and a half round trip to get their student when they're at work and let her stay with us. She can come to some of the field trips and events we planned. I live in farmland, so a 45 minute trip each way 3 days a week just isn't a big deal. It'll be on pretty and empty roads the whole way there and back. I didn't want to offer to do that when Iker would be here because it would cut into his time too much...but now that we don't have him with us, we can help out that girl. I told them that if Iker shows up I'm not sure I can continue helping out, but at least I can for the first 2 weeks. So...it's not the same at all, but we will get to spend time with a student for a few days and be part of her trip to America. Edited June 28, 2017 by Garga 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 How disappointing for him and your family. I hope he gets well soon and can still visit. I know I wouldn't have been up for it so soon after my pneumonia treatment ended, but I was really weak, exhausted, and underweight, so it took weeks to get my energy back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 That stinks. I hope he gets to come at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Aw man that's some lousy luck all around. Sorry to hear that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 That really stinks. Too bad you don't live closer; our exchange student's program is still trying to find a home for a boy, and they arrive TOMORROW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Poor guy! I'm glad his illness was discovered now. It would be miserable to be ill so far from home. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenn in FL Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Oh! I thought of a good thing! We're just so disappointed today that I keep forgetting this part: One of the host families can't be home with their student 3 days a week. They couldn't get off work. They really were scrambling to think of what to do with their student on those three days each week. I offered that I could drive the hour and a half round trip to get their student when they're at work and let her stay with us. She can come to some of the field trips and events we planned. I live in farmland, so a 45 minute trip each way 3 days a week just isn't a big deal. It'll be on pretty and empty roads the whole way there and back. I didn't want to offer to do that when Iker would be here because it would cut into his time too much...but now that we don't have him with us, we can help out that girl. I told them that if Iker shows up I'm not sure I can continue helping out, but at least I can for the first 2 weeks. So...it's not the same at all, but we will get to spend time with a student for a few days and be part of her trip to America. Depending on where your part time student is from, she might be absolutely delighted and utterly fascinated by the opportunity to experience farm life. Don't overlook the obvious or sell yourself short. If she hails from a city, just the concept of farming would probably delight her to no end. You could show her the farm, let her help with chores if she was so inclined, have a scrumptious summer picnic, and maybe just enjoy a lazy afternoon in the country. Sometimes the greatest times are actually the simplest. I'm so glad you have found a bright spot in the midst of this disappointment. She is a lucky girl. :001_smile: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 I am so sorry! What a terrible disappointment! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 If he has full blown Pneumonia I can understand them grounding him. If he has Walking Pneumonia, I don't know if one can fly (is that contagious?) or not. At this time, I suspect that my Stepson has Walking Pneumonia, because of a cough he has. He is waiting for an appointment with an M.D. If he has that, they usually give them AntiBiotics and hospitalization is rarely necessary. I hope he will be OK soon and that he can still visit your family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 (edited) If he has full blown Pneumonia I can understand them grounding him. If he has Walking Pneumonia, I don't know if one can fly (is that contagious?) or not. At this time, I suspect that my Stepson has Walking Pneumonia, because of a cough he has. He is waiting for an appointment with an M.D. If he has that, they usually give them AntiBiotics and hospitalization is rarely necessary. I hope he will be OK soon and that he can still visit your family. I don't know what he has exactly. I wish I did so I should know if I should just let this go and not expect to host this year, or if I should keep the hope alive. I emailed him and he replied. There are two issues he says he's facing: 1. The doctor has to ok the visit. 2. The agency that plans these trips has to ok the truncated trip. As part of the package, the students attend an arrival party, 5 all-day trips to major cities (DC, NYC), and a going home party. He will miss the arrival party and two of the trips at minimum. Legally, they might not allow him to take only a partial trip. I don't think they could charge him and then not deliver on a big chunk of what the package offers. They might not have a policy of pro-rating their fee, so it could be that if he doesn't go on the start date, he doesn't go at all. I told him to keep me posted. I think today is particularly hard because I had a ton of stuff to do to prepare and I was counting down the hours. But now that he's not coming, my entire to-do list is out the window. I've wafted around the house all day because now I don't have anything to do. Well, there's always something to do, but now none of it involves preparing for our guest. Instead I created to-do lists for cleaning so that I can just hand them out to the kids (and sometimes DH) instead of me having to do all the mental thinking about what needs to be done to keep the house running. (From another thread.) Wow! It takes a lot to keep a house clean, when you write it all out. We all watched a comedian for about an hour to brighten our spirits and we laughed, but my heart went right back to being heavy as soon as we stopped watching. The plane should have landed 20 minutes ago. We'd be meeting him in less than three hours if he was coming. I suspect he's pretty miserable at home right now. Poor kid. Edited June 28, 2017 by Garga 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 (edited) That really stinks. Too bad you don't live closer; our exchange student's program is still trying to find a home for a boy, and they arrive TOMORROW! That's awful! (I live on the PA/MD border) Edited June 28, 2017 by Garga 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 (edited) That's awful! (I live on the PA/MD border) Yeah, I'm in MA, that would be a bit far! It amazes me how seat-of-the-pants this organization is. The last exchange student we had from there was an 'extra;. She'd already been in the country a few days when we took her (they got another family to take an extra kid for that time). I'm sure these people are paying a lot of money - I wonder how the parents would feel if they knew their kids were being sent over here with no family to stay with (and pretty much ending up with any warm body that will take them...) Edited June 28, 2017 by Matryoshka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 (edited) Yeah, I'm in MA, that would be a bit far! It amazes me how seat-of-the-pants this organization is. The last exchange student we had from there was an 'extra;. She'd already been in the country a few days when we took her (they got another family to take an extra kid for that time). I'm sure these people are paying a lot of money - I wonder how the parents would feel if they knew their kids were being sent over here with no family to stay with (and pretty much ending up with any warm body that will take them...) Yeah...that's a long drive! I thought it was bad that it was only 1 week before the arrival date before they had a family for the last kid with this group. Edited June 28, 2017 by Garga 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daria Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Yeah...that's a long drive! I thought it was bad that it was only 1 week before the arrival date before they had a family for the last kid with this group. I wouldn't be surprised if something comes up and they need you for another kid in the group. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Oh that stinks for the kid! How disappointing. So glad it didn't happen here though. I hope he's able to figure out a new plan. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 I hope the boy had some kind of Trip Insurance and does not lose a ton of money because he got sick at the last minute! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 I can't wait until tomorrow. I would be meeting my student RIGHT NOW if he was coming. I am so sad. Sooooo sad. I think the bad night of sleep is messing with my emotions and making the sense of disappointment overwhelming. It's not that big of a deal, right? I mean, he's a stranger? And yet I was sooo looking forward to his trip. As well as the trips he goes on with the group, I'd planned 6 outings and a TON of activities to do in the area: swimming, kayaking, skating, baking cookies, cooking, mini golf, karate lessons with my sons. Every day there was something fun planned. And now THREE of the other host families have written on my FB post to the group that "I work full time and so maybe you could help me out??" Why couldn't one of their kids been the one not to come? Their kids were going to sit in their houses alone all day or who knows what. I just seriously can't get over how I'm the host that had all the time to devote to my kid and I'm the one without a kid. We'd be meeting him right now. :( I am so sad. I need to sleep and let this day be DONE. I think if it'd have found out before 10:30 last night when I'd already bought all the food and made special snacks and stuff I'd have been better able to handle it. Blah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 I am so sad for you, Garga! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted June 29, 2017 Author Share Posted June 29, 2017 I am so sad for you, Garga! Thank you! I think (hope) today is the worst just because the news was so sudden and I knew the exact time we'd be meeting and we'd been counting down the hours. I feel like I can't adjust to the change in plans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 :grouphug: I hope he can come for part of it, but wish the news were better. Hopefully the gal you can do more with will ease some of the disappointment. :grouphug: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 Id be so disappointed too! What a bummer for all involved :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.