Final updose???

Dr. Jones gave us the green light to come down for an updose this week. Tuesday, when we talked, the roads were closed due to winter weather. I felt Wednesday would still be iffy. Laura had a band concert Thursday, so we opted for Friday. The only problem with Friday is that Dr. Jones only has updose times in the morning. That means that Laura would have to miss the whole day of school, and we would have to leave early enough that I couldn't get Seth to school. This Friday we had the added complexity of it being an early-out day for school. That would mean that we would leave an hour and a half before Seth had to be at school, and that he would be alone for 5 hours after school until Todd was home from work. Less than ideal. SO----we took Seth with us! At first he wasn't keen on the idea, but when I threw in the possibility of something fun later on, he was game.  :-)

There are always plans to be made. First, notifying Seth and Laura's teachers and getting work they would miss. Then, they would both miss theatre Friday afternoon. I needed to clear that up as well. Kirsti and Leslie were leaving town for speech and debate, so once they got off at 5 am, they would be taken care of.

I also had to make up cookies with what I anticipated would be Laura's new dose---12 peanuts. But I also packed cookies with 9 and 10 as well. And--shelled some peanuts so we could do other options if needed. Now that we are not traveling weekly, it actually seems like it takes more prep--we don't have things all packed and ready. Laura and Seth needed things to do on the road and in the office.  We needed to pack food for the road. AND---snow clothes.  I had a plan :-)

It was a late night Thursday night. We had the large band concert and got home late. Then we had to try to get everyone packed. Everyone but Todd, haha. Poor guy still had to go to work. I think I finally got to bed about 1 am. Then I was up early due to Kirsti and Leslie heading off to Worland for speech. And then getting the rest of us ready to leave by 7.  I must admit to taking caffeine. I know myself well. I cannot stay awake easily even when well rested. I can't stay awake even to watch a movie. I HATE soda, but used to gag down a coke or mountain dew when I had to drive. I take caffeine so infrequently that it doesn't take much. After a bit, I decided I just couldn't take the soda. And I do not need the calories. I calculated the amount of caffeine I get with a soda and take the equivalent in vivarin. Bad me, I know. BUT---better half a vivarin than falling asleep at the wheel. And today--I needed it. I may have been trembling from caffeine, but I was a good driver and didn't even begin to fall asleep  :-)  No roadside jumping jacks today, haha!

The drive down wasn't too bad. It seemed longer today, but it was prettier than normal. The roads had dried from the storm earlier in the week, but there was still snow around. And snow is definitely nicer than dirt and sagebrush! I had my camera today, so we had to snap a picture of devils slide--a landmark that means we are getting close. We tried to take a picture of Laura's favorite part of the whole drive--the llamas--but they weren't out today :-(  Laura watches for the llamas every time we drive past. She knows the milemarker where we see them. And she knows which animals are in each field leading up to them, haha!  That is Laura for you...



Devil's slide

We arrived at Dr. Jones' office in perfect timing. 10 minutes early. We filled out our pre-updose questionnaire and waited for our turn. Dr. Jones took his time talking with us today. It is always nice when he can take the time to do so. I know he is really busy, so we usually don't ask a lot of questions, just take the time when we can. That is an advantage of frequent visits! He asked if WE had time to talk today. Hahaha.  Right. We will always listen and talk as long as he can! He acknowledged that with Laura, we can't plan. That is for sure. We have tried and tried to plan, but her body just doesn't go along with our plans. For now, we do have a tentative plan. We would updose today to 12 in the morning and 10 at night. Usually, the schedule is to do 12/12 for a week and then graduate. Not us. We will do 12/10 for a while, then 12/11, then eventually 12/12. Then look at graduating. Everything, of course is fluid and could change at a moments notice.

Making sure the lungs are healthy

He also feels that Laura will not have a normal maintenance. We have known that for a while. We will probably keep her at 10 peanuts instead of 8. And we will need to be careful about when she "eats freely".  Most kids are free to eat as much peanut as they want in maintenance. We will need to be more conservative. That won't be a problem. I don't think Laura has any desire to eat peanut. We REALLY, REALLY just want her to not worry about accidental ingestion. Or worry about being next to a friend eating peanut. So--that should be fine.

As far as discussing her other allergies, we will address that when she is in maintenance. We do not know how her treatment will proceed after peanut, and that is ok. I wouldn't be surprised if she can challenge out a few of her tree nuts, but I am CERTAIN she will still have at least a few. Cashew for one. So---if we want her to be truly safe, we will need to do more OIT. Just how we will approach it, is unknown at this point. And that is ok. I really have come to terms with the fact that this whole process is just going to be different for us. It is still hard to see other people cruise through without a problem, but we know that Laura is different. It will not be that way for us. I don't even think about timing anymore. I can't.

So-Laura ate a no-bake cookie today that has the equivalent of 12 peanuts!!!  She did great! Not a single symptom. YAY!!!  Seth made fast-friends with a few boys from Arizona who were also hanging out in the OIT room. I think they were all playing minecraft together...

After our time in the office was over, we headed to my dad and step-mom's house. (Bumps and Bonnie.)  We brought left-over lasagna, so we warmed that up and ate lunch. Bonnie was wanting help making a copy of her son's scrapbook, so we worked on taking pictures of it. I will photoshop them and upload them to shutterfly so she can have a copy of the scrapbook. We also visited a tad.  Seth was happy to see them and kept talking of "keeping them", haha.

During our visit, Dad showed the kids the remnants of his old "red beard". They thought that was pretty funny!

Then, off to Costco!  I really don't like the Costco runs, but we can definitely get things cheaper there, so we do it. Now that we aren't coming down as frequently, we spend a lot more there when we go. Ouch!

By the time we were done at Costco, we had hit the magic 4 hour rule for Laura's dosing. She needs to stay mellow and not exercise or exert herself at all for 4 hours. So...we headed up the canyon to Gorgoza Park in Park City. By the time we were there and the kids had gear on, it was a good five hours post-dosing. I felt good about that :-)  We had never been here before, but I thought we needed to try it out.

They had a magician there today. He drew us in and Laura and Seth enjoyed his show for a while.

Then, off to the slopes! It is a sledding hill with tubes. They LOVED it!  When we first got there, it was kind of warm, and the snow wasn't working too well. They kept getting stuck. As they tried different runs, they found the best run. Then, I joined them. Connecting our sleds on the fast hill was definitely the ticket. It also helped that the sun was going down and it was getting cooler. Talk about speed! 

After sledding, we ate our sandwiches we had packed and headed home. We dosed Laura around Evanston, and got home fairly late. I will say this....I wore them out! Laura and Seth were EXHAUSTED by the time we got home. It was a good day :-)