This Is Your Captain Speaking...

We are going to be traveling through a patch of rough air. Please remain seated and fasten your seat belts.

Life has been a whirlwind the last few weeks. I can barely remember what day it is, keep on getting my addresses mixed up and have not had a full nights sleep in I don't know how long. Yet, we are finally unpacked (mostly) and things are starting to come together in the new house. It is starting to look like a home.

When we were on the plane, I was not so sure it was going to happen.

Leaving was hard. Our friend that took us to the airport, caught me in the front yard with an intense look on my face, standing still. She asked if I had forgotten something. I had to tell her the truth and acknowledge that I was trying my hardest to not cry and let the overwhelming emotion that I was feeling overtake me. I knew if I started, I wouldn't be able to stop. That house is the only one Cole has ever known. We have changed so much individually, and as a family there. We actually found it during Cole's PICU stay, when he was 7 months old. He learned to crawl, walk, and talk there. We celebrated all of his birthdays, Christmases, and everything else...there. He went from having one type of seizure, to seven types there. We started the diet, got the helmet, became hermits, got the Dravet diagnosis etc, etc, etc, there. It was a house full of history for only having lived in it for 2 1/2 years. The house went through a transformation, just like us. We gutted the basement to the cement floors and bare studs and watched it go through a metamorphosis to Cristine's palace. We miss her so much. Knowing that I had a first responder downstairs or just down the road helped me a lot with my anxiety during a trying time. I hope that whoever buys the house, will know just how much love was within its walls. I am sure our neighbors are grateful that we won't have the ambulance visiting our street on a regular basis and our barking dogs have been relocated ;)

As I got in the car, I shifted my focus to the plane ride. I had enough rescue medication in my purse to put an NFL linebacker into a coma. I had paid an inordinate amount of money for special oxygen that I was maybe going to need for about 4 hours. I had a letter from the doctor, the scale, g tube supplies, toys, crayons, KetoCal, and everything else I could think of in case we got stranded or something happened. We checked 7 bags! Not cheap ;) Brian knowing everyone in the universe came in handy and we got escorted through TSA. The x-ray agent had a problem with my die-cast metal pill crusher. I looked like a tool that could be used as a weapon! What? Everyday people don't carry huge pill crushers in their carry-ons? They went through all of my bags and I was totally fine with that. After all of the searching, we were escorted all of the way to the plane and sat down immediately. It went so much smoother than I had imagined. I had totally taken the prepare for the worst, hope for the best approach.

The worst did not happen. We did not need to use the fancy oxygen. Cole did have multiple small seizures and I did give him Klonopin, but nothing else. Being in a small space, having to sit still and be quiet was a struggle for Cole. The men in front of us were saints, because he kicked their chairs the entire time and screamed multiple times throughout the ride. They did not say a word or give me any death stares. Hooray! The in-flight entertainment was broken and I don't think that Cole was a good replacement. He would not stay in his seat, or stay on our laps. He would constantly be standing up or looking through the seats to the people behind us. He also had a manic episode that was most likely a sub clinical seizure. For over 20 minutes he vacillated between giggling like he was being tickled to screaming like he was being hurt. He would switch so fast in between the two that I am certain it was neurological and not just behavior. I was grateful when it stopped, because I was getting ready for that med-induced coma I had prepared for. All in all, it could have been much worse. I had visions of having to load him up with meds and asking the captain to land the plane. A loud, crazy toddler is something that happens on every flight. This time, we were those people.

I think that grandma suffered the worst of all of us. The woman is amazing. If we ever do this again, I am going to recruit more people. She really took the brunt of this move. From the travel to sewing curtains, she did it. Thanks mom! Anyone want to sign up to travel with us to UT this summer? ;) Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? No one? Really? Maybe I'll have to hire out! Hopefully he will have a Miami trip under his belt before we try the cross country thing again.

Cole has not been out of our new house since we arrived. We wanted to let him get used to it with both of us here. Brian starts his new job tomorrow, so I will start to slowly take him out and see how he does in public. Rescue meds only twice so far. It is still confusing to us that he is not having more tonic-clonics. We'll take what we can get though and for right now, that is more small seizures and less drama. I'm not holding my breath, but I must admit it has been nice.

Up ahead, some more rough air, but a beautiful view of the clouds.