EMPOWERED

...so things stress me out. Shocker, I know. Even every day little things. I hate being late. If I'm worried I will be late- boom, stress.
I do not like driving if I have a choice. On top of that, I do not like driving on highways if I have a choice.  On top of that, I do not like driving to unfamiliar places because I fear getting lost. On top of that, I do not like driving in the dark.

So what is a typical updose day like? Besides the 'regular' stress of, 'what if he can't tolerate this dose?' Coby gets dropped off at 3:45sh and the ONLY WAY we will make it to our 4:15 appointment on time is if there is ZERO traffic. He runs in, pees, changes- we grab out stuff and go. My heart is pounding already worried I will be late.
AND since Yitz can't usually work from home on Thursdays especially since many Fridays of early shabbos he works from home--- so guess guess who's the one who has to do the drive...
...on highways...
...to a place I'm unfamiliar with
...and it's dark (on the way home)

strike one, strike two, strike three, strike four, strike five and strike six. I'M STRESSED! The other day Coby was working on his 'worry workbook' and.... well a picture speaks louder than words so:

That's 37 times for those of you counting...

....BUT I did it- YAY me. We got to the doctor at 4:15 on the dot! I didn't get lost a single time while going. Managed the drive on unfamiliar highways in unfamiliar towns. Managed to drive home in the dark on unfamiliar highways and unfamiliar towns (though I did get lost. Twice.) (And I'm not above admitting that I was yelling at WAZE blaming her for getting me lost with Coby commenting, "Mom, you know she's not real, right?") BUT I DID IT! And I feel empowered. Maybe I can actually do this (unless of course it decides to snow or rain- because that's a whole other ball game.) Yay me!

Oh, but I digress. This is about our little warrior on his second updose day. We actually did hit a tiny snafu before even beginning but thank goodness it was just that. A snafu. They took his vitals before starting and the nurse says, 'he has a low grade fever of 99.8.' "WHAT?! He is fine! He came straight from school, he wasn't complaining about anything!" (pushing aside that when he had 104 a few weeks back he never complained or said anything either.)
She takes it again, "Okay. It's down to 99.2."
"WHAT?! Does that mean he can't updose today?"
"I don't know. We have to talk to the doctor."

Just my luck. Smooth(ish) week. On time. Didn't get lost... only to be sent home?! (Since even dosing with a fever of over 100 is dangerous- there is no chance they would updose if he has a slight fever or a cold.) But.... Thank goodness for faulty thermometers!

The PA told us that this temporal thermometer is actually known to be faulty so she took his temp orally.... and it was---- 98.2. YAY!!!! She said earlier today that thermometer showed fever on another child but it was also just a mistake. HAHA the temporal thermometer is temperamental. Cracking myself up with stupid puns now that the stress of today is basically over.

They took his vitals- everything looked great and sounded clear and she declared us good to go!!!!

BRING IT! I AM READY TO UPDOSE!

She told us while we would be going up 150%  we'd be going down in 'koolaid' from 4ML to 1ML- meaning the peanut protein concentration has just been upped 900%! Here we go....

And then we wait and watch. If nothing out of the ordinary occurs a nurse checks him out and tests his blood oxygen level, pulse and lung capacity every 20 minutes. If anything out of the ordinary occurs they do a bit more.

A couple of minutes after dosing Coby coughed. TWICE. This never happened at home.

"Did you swallow wrong?"

"No."

A few minutes later Coby sneezed. TWICE. My heart began pounding a little bit because this never happens at home.

Could it be a fluke- of course. But two coughs and two sneezes minutes after updosing was a bit nerve-wracking.

The doctor came in and listened to him breathe and said he's okay.

PHEEEW.

Of course he had several of those lip swipes he always has. He also was scratching quite a bit at his ear which doesn't usually happen at home, so again the doctor came in to make sure he was okay.

His regular scratching at his body happened a little bit too, but while we can't dismiss it completely I know he did this after our placebo test too.

And so the hour passes. I commend Coby about how awesome he's doing and tell him, "Do you know that from your very first dose five and a half weeks ago, the dose you just took is ONE THOUSAND TIMES as high as that very first one. His reaction? Again, I'll let a picture speak.

The hour finishes with the three 'twenty minute' checks from the nurses followed by a doctor check (not including the two additional ones the doctor did during the hour), and we are good to go!

Upon leaving Coby tells me (as he did last time) how he misses the PA's 'brother'. Apparently he thought and still thinks despite us telling him it's not the case that Dr. Selter is Jenna (PA)'s brother. She cracked up when he said it the first time saying, "I need to share this with him!"

We collected our take home dose and she told us that as long as no colds/illnesses occur she predicts that this week will be just as 'boring' as last week. From your mouth to G-d's ears! And she said, "And we'll see you next week!"

Time will tell.... But here's hoping!

I JUST UPDOSED TO 250 MICROGRAMS! (1/1,200th of a peanut)