WELL IT'S BEEN A NICE 19 MONTH/30 YEAR RUN- IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN

At Coby's last OIT appointment our doctor told us he was comfortable in Coby skipping dosing once every week! That was amazing to hear- but in truth, I fought it.

I thought, "but if he skips, and then Coby gets sick and has to skip, then he'd be skipping too many days and he'd lose all his desensitization so we can't actually start to skip one day a week 'just because' unless he's allowed to start skipping two."

After many weeks of refusing to skip dosing a single time 'just because', I had a lightbulb moment.

"Hey Stace, what are you doing? If you don't challenge his body and make sure it is actually capable of skipping a day every single week and popping right back to his regular dose the following day, how will you ever make any further progress? How do you expect the doctor to ever give permission to possibly skip 2 days a week or even more, if you won't even skip a single day? Trust the doctor. Trust the process. You gotta give it a go."

So I dove in and we began skipping dosing once every week. We would choose the day that the skipping of dosing would give him the most freedom- such as on vacation- if we wanted or needed to be active all day, we'd simply skip that day that week. If there was no day like that, we just let Coby pick any random day he wanted to skip (as long as it wasn't a day that was close to the skipped day of the prior week-- like if he skipped Friday, he shouldn't skip Sunday just two days later)

Coby all in all had been doing great, though he did have a couple of reactions over the last couple of months.
One was a random middle of the night reaction that scared the bejeebers out of me. That day Coby dosed as usual, and 7 hours later Yitz was getting ready to go to bed and woke me up. "Stacey, Coby woke up complaining about being all itchy and he can't stop coughing. I gave him benadryl and he went back to bed." I turned on the baby monitor but was a nervous wreck. I don't think we had ever been able to give him JUST benadryl to completely stop a reaction once there was coughing involved. I started thinking of those people who died from an anaphylactic reaction in their sleep and was terrified each time I went to check on Coby throughout the night. Thank G-d all was okay. But it was not a fun night. We remain clueless as to why he even reacted in the first place.

The other was just before we were about to leave to Brooklyn for my in laws 50th anniversary celebration. He began reacting at home. We needed both benadryl and steroids to calm down the reaction. Since it was late and he was heavily medicated he was a bit out of it by the timewe got the restaurant, but thank G-d the reaction didn't progress. AND he was able to eat in that restaurant since he OITd, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to. (If you are wondering why we didn't plan to simply just skip dosing him that particular day that week, it is because 3 days later we were headed to Costa Rica and NEEDED to skip dosing him on that travel day. We couldn't risk a reaction happening mid air and by the time we got to Costa Rica it would have been too late to dose him... That flight ended up having to make an emergency landing due to a sick passenger but that's a whole separate story)

In Costa Rica he was able to participate in fun activities all over the country.  He ziplined, rappelled through waterfalls, hiked, snorkeled, ATVd, took boat rides. He had the time of his life.

PURA VIDA!

 We traveled all over the country and after booking our flights and all our hotels and activities, we learned that there was NO kosher food anywhere near we were staying--- not even drinks or bread! We packed a suitcase and small cooler full of kosher food- cereal, breads, granola bars, deli, cheese, pasta and prayed CUSTOMS wouldn't confiscate it. We read lots of articles that it's a complete crap shoot- some people get through and other people have every single item confiscated. We tried to mentally prepare ourselves for that telling each other we would just live on fruit, but at the moment of truth CUSTOMS let us through (and yes we declared our food on the customs form), but after 8 days of eating blechy suitcase food we were ready for real food, and in San Jose they did have a chabad and kosher restaurant that thanks to OIT we were able to eat!
It was an amazing vacation to celebrate Josh & Mikey's college and high school graduation and try to make the most of our time with Mikey before he left to Israel for the year.

But just when Coby thought we were headed back to NJ- we surprised him with a quick trip to Disney.

Disney had already put up their Halloween decorations even though it was still only August and there was candy being given out everywhere. (To most people it was trick or treating- to us, 'free chocolate!). None of it was 'safe'- but we no longer need to worry about that! And so we collected over TEN POUNDS OF CHOCOLATE. Yep, Mikey weighed the bags on our luggage scale. It was over 10 pounds!

Part of Mikey's collection

My silly Coby doesn't really like chocolate, so he barely ate any of it--- but still. We didn't have to worry about him being exposed to any of these 'deadly darts' floating through the Magic Kingdom since he was protected, and he was able to taste some when he wanted to. A couple of things Coby eagerly agreed to eat that he otherwise wouldn't have been able to was of course ice-cream.

Ghirardelli at Disney Springs

Mickey bars at Disney's Blizzard Beach

And while this next picture is just from the new Stew Leonard's that opened up in Paramus- it fits the ice-cream theme. Kosher not safe Soft serve in the store! Thanks OIT!

So it has been great. Here we are mid October with Simchat Torah approaching. We had decided Coby's skip day this week would be Monday/Simchat Torah so he wouldn't have to worry about a delayed reaction from dancing. We knew we no longer to fear this holiday but instead he could be just one of the kids collecting a bunch of candy and dancing around with the Torahs. He'd also be able to partake in the full meal the following morning with no concerns of a reaction either thank you OIT!!!

But then it happened.

This past week we skipped Monday because of the Sukkah hop- we didn't want to have to worry about a reaction when he was running around with kids. (And once again thanks to OIT he was able to participate in the sukkah hop and eat foods at other people's houses--- oh and while on the subject of other people's houses, we were also able to go on another shabbaton with good friends from college that we hadn't done... SINCE COBY WAS FOUR MONTHS OLD. It was so nice to be able to do that again. Thanks OIT!)

Where was I?

Oh right.
Back to 'but then it happened.'

I started to feel crummy. I didn't have fever but my throat felt like it was on fire. I felt like there was broken shards of glass covered in hot lava going down my throat every single time I swallowed. That was my only symptom but it was miserable. I couldn't sleep through that pain and didn't know what was happening since I didn't have any fever- it didn't make sense.
After three days of this hell I gave in and went to the doctor and just by looking at my throat she exclaimed. "YEOWCH! That is bad! You definitely have strep."

Strep? I haven't had that in THIRTY years! I don't even have fever. So weird. Thank G-d for antibiotics. What a difference they make!

She did warn us, "Be careful for others who live in your home. If they get sick in the coming days, assume it is strep."

NO! Please Coby can't get sick. That complicates OIT since you can't dose when  sick. And he has Simchat Torah coming. He can't get sick. It becomes so complicated for him to be sick.

But he hasn't been sick in since March 2018 (with strep), so really I know we're 'due'.

Friday I am about to dose him and he says, "mom I feel weird. I don't think I should dose."
"What do you mean weird?"
"I can't explain it."

He did sound a little congested but I couldn't skip him completely- after all he had already skipped that week just 4 days before on our 'skip day'.

I decided to down-dose him from 8 to 6 peanuts.

An hour later he had 102. And yep, shabbos had just begun a few minutes earlier so we are stuck. (WHY DOES THIS TYPE OF STUFF ALWAYS SEEM TO HAPPEN ON FRIDAYS?!!!)

CRAP!

Thank G-d, Thank G-d, Thank G-d, I didn't give him his full dose and he had ABSOLUTELY NO REACTION last night.
We really dodged a bullet.
It could have been real bad.

Today he woke up with 104 and complaining about his throat. There was no way I could dose him today.

We also knew we couldn't wait til Sunday to see the doctor. We were worried how high his fever could spike during the night and we needed to get him on antibiotics TONIGHT. The longer the illness the more complicated it becomes to get him back to his maintenance dose. And safely. We also wanted him to be able to participate in Simchat Torah festivities.

So to PM Pediatrics we went.

Ironically HIS strep test came back NEGATIVE!
Which is a 'crap' in my book.
That means we need to wait for this virus to run its course AND it means he can still catch my strep.
Here's hoping he it's a fast one and he'll be able to participate in some Simchat Torah festivities and safely get back up to his dosing regimen.
Sigh.
But hey, it was a 19 month run for Coby. Fingers crossed for at least another nice 19 month illness free run for our Cobester.
Feel better sweets!

BORING IS GOOD!!!!

Wow, it's been forever since I blogged, which must mean only one thing--- our OIT life as of late has basically been boring.

3 CHEERS FOR BORING!

Coby has been enjoying his post OIT life. I mean, how could he not?

-He has been able to go on all the camp overnights with no worries.

At Camp Getaway. He also went camping at Hershey and Lake George.

-He went to a friend's simcha with no worries and really hit the jackpot there!

loading up from the yummy buffet

He literally chased down the ice-cream bar table as the waiters wheeled it out

Yum, dessert table

He just couldn't get enough

-He was able to go to a potluck Shabbaton with no worries. It was a great time!

-He was able to eat whatever he wanted at the collation after Mikey's graduation.

-He has been able to go out to eat with no worries.

Teaneck Dog-House on Father's Day

-He went to Hershey Park (with his camp) for the first time since completing OIT and after that 'singing cows chocolate ride' he was able to eat the unsafe chocolate they handed out at the end of the ride. SCORE! He was also able to eat Dippin' Dots there, which had not been safe for him in the past.

front row, green hat on the right is our Cobester

- He has eaten at bakeries that otherwise would have been un-safe.

-And of course- ice cream!

What a blessing.
Food.
Friends.
Freedom.
Inclusion.
Safety.

Though truth be told, there are always some hills to climb during this journey. We've had some trials and tribulations. One morning Coby got off the couch and every part of his exposed body was speckled. His arms, his cheeks and his ears and neck.

I didn't completely freak out (yay me!) since I knew Coby hadn't actually eaten anything at all by that point, though we did call the allergist. We gave him some medication that cleared it up--- and then we figured out what caused it. We had had several teenagers in our home 2 nights earlier. They hung out in the den. They had left, but they left behind an intense fragrance. Some concoction of deodorants, body washes, lotions etc. That morning was Coby's first time in the den since all the teens had been there. In fact it was a full 36 hours later. Their lotions must have really clung to our couch fibers because just by sitting there for a few minutes Coby's sensitive body was not happy.
BUT thank G-d it was not a food reaction.
Can't blame everything on those peanuts!

Another day Coby had to have 5 baby teeth pulled. As if that's not traumatic enough, we had to call his allergist to see if we should have them all pulled at the same time or space it out. How would we be able to dose him if all of them were pulled at the same time? How would he chew up those peanuts? Exposed and bleeding gums mixed in with an allergen can cause a reaction. A body that has been through anything traumatic together with its allergen can cause a reaction. Our allergist advised us to just have them pulled all at once and to skip a couple of days of dosing. We were then to spend the next week building back up to Coby's maintenance dose. Thank G-d we had no issues and it all went smoothly. And yes, the tooth-fairy was extra generous that night.

My poor baby

Coby also went back to the doctor for his twice yearly allergy testing.

Coby's reaction, while positive was down to a 5x17 measurement! Before Coby began OIT they were only able to test him with 1% of the full dose and back then his number was 12x32. We've come a long way baby! Way to go Coby. Our allergist told us that Coby probably will never get a negative result, but we are still moving in the right direction. He also said we can try not having apple-sauce anymore after his dosings--- and we have done that for the last few days and had no problems! Woot!

We also asked the doctor if we should put him back on the peanut butter powder dosing as well, and the doctor told us it was not worth it. Coby was having way too many reactions from that that it just wasn't worth it unless and until Coby wants to have complete free eating to begin scarfing down peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (Yeah, right...) This does mean that while Coby can mostly free eat- we still have to be wary about actual peanut butter. We recently actually called a couple of restaurants we have been eating at to find out that peanut butter is in some of their items. Pre OIT we wouldn't have even been able to step foot in the restaurant. Now, post OIT but not dosing with PB2 powder, we are able to eat in those restaurants but cannot eat the items with actual peanut butter in them. A bit of a step backwards, but not a complete fall. So while it's a bit disheartening, we are okay with that.

So his skin test has once again improved...

And after the blood test- well deserved
and now safe ice-cream

....But with skin testing, come blood tests.

My trooper

We got those blood results back and learned that now Coby's thyroid is fine.
However, despite being on a vitamin D supplement, for some reason his vitamin D levels are even lower than they were last time, so we were told to  increase it by 150%.

And lastly his peanut numbers...
They tested five different components, but it is the first two that is the most important.

H1 before beginning OIT was 41. Six months ago it was 20. And now.... it is 10.6!!!!!!
H2 before beginning OIT was 41.6. Six months ago it was 19.5. And now... it is 11.3!!!!

Yowzers!!! While those numbers still indicate a severe allergy, Coby's class of allergy has gone from a CLASS V allergy, down to a CLASS IV!!!!

So yeah, we may have had to take a couple of steps back in some aspects... but today compared to where we were less than 3 years ago is un-freaking-believable.

It has now been 2 years since graduation. He had just turned 9 when he graduated and this week our little warrior has turned 11! Where does the time go?

Wishing our Cobester a year of health, happiness, love, safety, freedom, friends and lots and lots of ice-cream.... After all, we are still making up for lost time.

THIS WHOLE ALLERGY THING IS AGING ME BIG TIME

   PRE ALLERGY & OITING                                                          POST ALLERGY & OITING

Okay fine, the first pic is simply from Wacky Wednesday and the second pic was a few days later for the 100th day of school.... but I am telling you, while most of me feels like that eternal 12 year old, some days it feels like this whole allergy & OIT thing is aging me big-time.

We had a pretty nice run. Since stopping the powder over two months ago, Coby only had 2 or 3 reactions- just of hives; some of which didn't even require steroids to control them- just benadryl.

And then last night happened.

In the above picture I am holding the adrenaclick (epinephrine) already taken out of the case with both caps already removed and had been about to jab it into Coby's thigh when the doctor called back...

But first let me backtrack a few weeks. We had gone back to the doctor to discuss what had been happening with all the reactions that seemed to come mostly from the powder. 11 reactions of hives in under 2 months and 2 anaphylactic reactions within 4 months. All the above reactions resulted from powder, and we even 'understood' one of his anaphylactic reactions.

So last month the doctor sent Coby for more blood tests to rule out anything new having cropped up. I took Coby for his blood test and they needed fo fill A LOT of vials. 

Ready for my blood test

It was hard to get a vein and then the vein in his first arm gave out. They went for the second arm, but that vein petered out too and they couldn't get enough to fill up all the vials and told us we'd have to come back the following week to get the rest.

My poor boy--- I decided to treat him to Hagen Dazs after that ordeal. After all he OITd and was free to do so. 

Hagen Dazs

We went back the following week for 'take two'. 

Here we go again...

The test results showed that no new allergies cropped up---- pheeew. He was a bit vitamin D deficient so we were told to add a vitamin D pill each day to his regimen.

They also said something was 'off' with his thyroid.

I was so excited!!!!

Yep--- you read that right--- EXCITED!

Because the allergist told me that all his reactions WOULD be able to be attributed to hypothyroidism 

I was so hopeful that we get Coby on some meds and the reactions would stop.

But unfortunately Coby's number was near a '6' and the endocrinologist said it needs to be a '10' in order to be treated.

DAMMIT!!!

Our allergist said we will keep watch on those numbers because something was happening with his thyroid and maybe this was just the beginning.

He also had another skin test to check on the peanut allergy.

More improvement!!

While the blood test did not show a reduction in the Ige numbers, the skin test did and doctors say that the skin testing is more reliable than the blood testing.

While the 'hive' in the skin test is similar in size to his test 6 months ago the redness around it has gotten smaller which meant improvement.

It was so wonderful to see that because his initial skin test before OIT showed such a significant reaction to just 1 percent of the full dose that they had to stop the test and treat him. The above test is such a drastic change and that is to 100% of the testing dose!

In other news Coby's OIT video and blog continue to travel the country and in some instances the world and he continues to inspire others.

One person reached out to us and asked if Coby would be willing to facetime with her. She and her family had followed his blog and watched his video several times and said Coby was a celebrity in their household. The dad admitted to getting choked up upon watching his video. Awwww. Coby had helped inspire them to begin OIT and they wondered if  they could ask him some questions since she would be starting OIT that week. They were so excited to 'meet' Coby. 

face-timing with Sophie

Coby also went to another slumber party- another gift that OIT had given him. Another normal childhood moment gifted to us by OIT.

heading into the sleepover party

So other than a few small glitches, we were on a roll. We were super excited for Purim---

- where once again he'd be able to go to parties with no worries of what he was eating--- which he did.

-we'd be able to visit family for the seuda with no worries- which he did. 

- And he would be able to eat anything and everything that came in shalach manot which he has been.

Purim the holiday that used to be the most dreaded had become the one most anticipated!

Thank you OIT!!!

Erev Purim rolled around & we decided to skip dosing Coby that day.

Last Erev Purim- he ended up having a delayed reaction 4 and a half hours after dosing- after dancing during the chagigah post megillah reading. So this year we decided why get stressed out? Let the kid have an awesome time- wear his costume, eat whatever he wanted at shul and dance his little heart out with no worries of reaction. 

ANIMAL!

He had so much fun. The following day we were able to go to Brooklyn, visit family, partake in their seudah and look through all our shalach manot with Coby super psyched about all the things he otherwise wouldn't be able to have had pre-OIT.

This is only SOME of the items he wouldn't have been able to have pre OIT

We got home later than we had anticipated and were dosing him much later than we usually do. Since cortisol levels rise during the day and the later you dose the higher the chance of a reaction, and he hadn't dosed at all the day before, we decided to just give him 6 peanuts that eve. I was worried- but thank G-d we had no problem.

Then came yesterday. 

He dosed the full 8 peanuts.

An hour later he started coughing.

"Mom I can't stop coughing."

Cough, cough, cough.

"Mom I need medicine."

I looked over at him and noticed his cheeks were beet red as well as one of his ears.

That red ear always signified the start of a reaction...

His tell...

There wasn't a single hive on his body, so I opted to give him steroids first.

He continued to cough.

And clear his throat.

I gave him an entire cup of water and insisted he drink.

My heart had begun to pound.

My hands had started to shake.

He continued to cough.

And clear his throat.

I ran downstairs and interrupted Yitz who was in the middle of an important work conference call.

"Yitz he's having a reaction. Could be anaphylactic."

Yitz cut the call short, "I have to go. My son is having an allergic reaction. We'll continue Monday."

He ran upstairs as Coby continued to cough and then exclaimed he was getting all itchy.

We pulled up his shirt but still no hives. This is the one thing that completely threw us. There were no hives despite him being itchy.--- that never had happened before. He had always had hives! (but we all know each reaction can be different.)

Yitz ran upstairs to get benadryl and while I gave it to Coby, Yitz paged the doctor.

Then Coby said, "My stomach hurts."

Then he started burping over & over again.

And continued to cough.

Then his nose started to run, "I'm stuffy. And my throat feels a little tight."

I told Yitz that we have to epi him--- it involved his throat AND other systems. This for sure was anaphylaxis. Multi system reaction...

Mikey who had been about to leave to someone else's house for shabbos began filling a hospital bag for us while I pulled the epipen out of its belt, dumped it out of its case, pulled off the two blue ends and got ready to administer it.

"Will it hurt?" he asked.

"Same as last time hun- you got this" I responded.

I inched towards him to 'jab' him as I instructed Yitz to call the ambulance- when our phone rang.

It was the doctor calling back.

Just as I was about to jab him I paused. Yitz quickly explained the situation as the epi hung there mid air ready to go.

The doctor told him to give him another teaspoon of benadryl. 

We quickly gave it to him.

Within moments his coughing subsided. He stopped clearing his throat. His nose stopped running.

WTH?

The doctor told us to watch him and if in the next few minutes it started up again to epi him and get him to the hospital.

She gave us her cell phone number so we could contact her directly.

I was still gripping the adrenaclick and took the above posted picture.

Fifteen minutes went by and Coby continued to improve.

We spoke to the doctor again worried about a biphasic reaction (a reaction that can return a few hours after the initial reaction and be even more serious than the initial one) and she instructed us to re-medicate him in 3 hours, keep watch and to lower his dose to 6 peanuts for the rest of the weekend until we spoke to his main doctor on Monday.

We dragged Coby's mattress into our room and he slept right next to our bed. Throughout the night I kept placing my hand on him to make sure his chest was rising.

What can I say?

I was still terrified.

I could not help but think about Natalie.

Natalie.

That's our code word.

Natalie.

Coby does not know what it means. Yitz and I do.

Throughout this reaction I kept saying to Yitz, "What about Natalie? What about Natalie?"

Quick reminder- Natalie was the 13 year old girl who had a peanut allergy but never had a reaction. At a party she bit into the wrong thing, realized it had peanut and spit it out. She felt fine but her parents gave her benadryl just in case. 20 minutes later the reaction became full blown- they epiid her three times, but she died. The benadryl had masked the symptoms and her body went past the point where an epi could help save her.

How could we have not epiid him once it was multi system and he was coughing non stop? If the doctor had not called back at that exact moment I would have- I was two seconds away from having done so.

Yitz said, "He's okay".

"But what if??? G-d forbid. There is no going back. There are no second chances. Natalie...."

 I don't get it. 

It was a  multi system reaction yet that one extra teaspoon of benadryl (which made it a total of 3 tsp benadryl & 2 tsp steroids) somehow got it done?

Any regular allergy plan has someone using the epi as soon as throat is affected. How does OIT buy us a few more moments? Does it really?

Most people who complete OIT have zero issues.

Coby is not one of them. 

And again I think back to all those fun times he's had throughout the year and a half since completing OIT and how much safer he is in that real world and how he no longer has to live in his protective bubble.

But then one night like last night seems to unravel it all for me.

The two pictures I posted above were taken less than 24 hours apart. I will post them one more time here- just for comparison sake. The absolute highs of OIT and the lowest of lows. 

Sometimes it's just so hard to make sense of it all and it makes me feel like I'm 100 years old.

3rd time in Disney since OITing

...well we pulled it off! Coby thought he was going to an OIT appointment, so we picked him up from school early and I put his "OIT shirt" on him. 

THIS KID IS GOING TO DISNEY!

And off we went! We were once again allowed to preboard but didn't bother to remind the flight attendant to make an announcement to others not to eat peanuts due to a peanut allergy. Flight attendants did not make the announcement and we didn't bother reminding them. No fears of airborne reactions anymore! OIT win!

en-route to Disney

We prayed for an uneventful trip to Disney, especially fresh out of his anaphylactic reaction just days earlier.

Our first time to Disney since beginning OIT Coby ended up with fever which lead to partial doses and many panicked pages to our allergist.

Last year Coby ended up having a delayed reaction on day one/our travel day (just hives), so this year I figured I wouldn't tax his body that was already pumped with excitement and tired from travel and so I decided to half dose him on that first travel day. Success- no reaction.

I thought this trip would be a shoo-in. Morning dosing of 'just' 8 peanuts---- no powder. Wait 3 hours before allowing him to swim or go on adrenaline pumping rides- there is no way he'd have a reaction--- no reason he'd have a reaction.

Right?

Wrong!

Shabbos- all we were doing was lazing around our hotel. Coby dosed his 8 peanuts. A few hours later he said his throat felt a bit weird and he felt itchy. I literally told him, 'must be the chlorine from yesterday's swim,' but we checked him anyway---- and HIVES!

WTF?!!!!

8 peanuts. NO powder. Doing absolutely nothing in the hotel--- and he's reacting?!

I gave him benadryl, but hives were spreading. I gave him steroids and my stomach was dropping. Would it be enough? Would it progress? He mentioned his throat earlier.
I felt sick.
Thank G-d it stopped the reaction and he was fine the rest of the trip.
But what the heck would cause it?

Could it be- that when we keep him busy in the parks he doesn't think about having had dosed and he's fine, but when he's lounging about and not kept busy- his mind wanders to dark places and that can cause a reaction? Our doctor did tell us that she's seen just anxiety itself cause a physical reaction. Is Coby still traumatized as we are--- of his last 10 minor reactions and 2 anaphylactic reactions? Could his own fear have caused it? Something to discuss next week at the doctor's. A few times on the trip he complained about how itchy he was... BEFORE dosing and there were no spots on him. There are so many levels to this.

I decided to half dose him the following day and then full dose him the rest of the days and Thank G-d he was fine.

BUT...

For some reason I thought I had forgotten to pack enough benadryl. I thought I packed just two single servings of benadryl with his epipens. Since I used one up on shabbos I was nervous about what to do the rest of the trip with just one serving left.

Amazon 2 day shipping wouldn't necessarily have it by us within the 2 days due to Martin Luther King day. And I only had one dose left to cover one more day- so I needed it within 2 days! Our hotel store did not sell benadryl. The closest drug store would have cost us about an hour's round trip drive. So instead we had the pharmacy deliver the benadryl to us and paid a hefty delivery fee, but at least we had peace of mind.

Thankfully we did not need to give him anymore benadryl this trip.

...and of course as you may have guessed- once we got home and I unpacked, I found out that I DID indeed have a full benadryl packed after all.

What can I say--- "...of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most!"

Other than that shabbos scare OIT did give Coby an amazing trip.

Due to dosing, he had to wait a few hours before he was able to ride the scary rides. (adrenaline plus dosing can cause a reaction) but Coby was determined to ride every last ride with his bros, since it would be their last time coming to Disney with us--- so after waiting a few hours post dosing- he braved every last one. Many more than once.

7 dwarfs roller coaster, space mountain, thunder mountain, splash mountain, flight of passage, Expedition Everest, Test Track, Rock N Roller Coaster, Slinky dog dash and the Tower of Terror.

Thunder Mountain

He also had a blast dancing his little heart out once he was allowed to. 

And swimming once a few hours had gone by too.

So how did OIT give Coby an amazing trip?
Firstly---- make-up!
HUH?!
Yep- I did indeed say make-up.
For nearly the past decade due to Coby's allergy and crazy sensitive skin we were too nervous to allow him to get any face paint. Make-up has been known to cause reactions in sensitive children.
This trip?
At the Animal Kingdom Lodge- he got African face paint!

And on the final day of vacation Coby was also able to get a pirate make-over, something he had wanted for years. We were previously nervous to let him have it due to his allergy and extremely sensitive skin--- but now since it's been nearly a year and a half since OIT graduation- it was time to let him get one.

Secondly--- animal food!

Animal food?

Yep- Animal Food!

At our second hotel- the Animal Kingdom Lodge--- Coby was able to participate in making giraffe feeders! There was a whole list of allergen information that came with it--- but we had no concerns at all. Coby was able to completely participate in it!

And yep, the giraffes did come!

And of course--- people food!

We would find out if something was kosher--- and if it was, we'd get it- no further questions needed.

Popcorn. Baked goods. Mickey ice-cream. Club Cool. Dole whip. Minnie's kitchen sink. Hot cocoa.

 

It was a fantastic trip and we were so sad to see it end.

On our way home- we actually got busy exploring the airport and didn't even hear our call for pre-boarding- so we ended up boarding with everyone else---for the first time ever! But I had no worries about that. I didn't need to scrub down the seats before everyone else boarded. He OITd- he's free. Since we are not supposed to dose him before getting on a flight, I knew he wouldn't have a reaction from something someone else was eating.

And Disney 2019--- that's a wrap. The end of an era. It may have been Coby's 10th trip in 10 years--- but it was his last time going with Josh & Mikey. Josh hadn't been able to come with us in six years due to Israel & his college schedule and come next year he's off to grad school while Mikey's off to college or Israel. We were so thankful to get one last family trip to the most magical place in the world and are forever grateful to OIT for making it a trip full of fun experiences, safety & freedom.