Visit 2, to SoCal Food Allergy, Part I: The challenges before the Challenges in Clinic.
We set off again! Not sure what it is with going to California for treatment … maybe because the hype leading up to it? The need for us to be healthy? Whatever it is, sure brings on it’s own bout of sickness and extra anxiety the week before.
We left on a Monday night from Boston again, direct flight into LAX getting us in about midnight West Coast time. In good ole travel fashion, the Monday prior El got a stomach bug that lasted about 24 hours. Then that Thursday Livy got the same. And, low and behold I got it late Friday night – oh the stress. By Sunday we all seemed to feel better/still feel good. Phew!
Keeping with tradition, Livy woke Monday morning of travel not quite herself – but we pushed through and I chalked it up to a rough night of sleep. We drove half way to the airport so the kids could get out some energy at my parents house and eat a meal, then we were off.
We chose to valet our car from the terminal at Boston Logan – I recommend this service above everything else! It cost us in total about $100+ more than parking off airport (for 7 days). Yes, that is more however hear me out; to me, time is money, and when you are traveling with two little kids, carseats, bags and a stroller, having to unpack in a parking lot and then repack into a shuttle bus and then scramble off the shuttle bus … then, do it all over again on the return. Yes, an extra one hundred or two hundred dollars would be worth it hands down to me every time. Especially on the return. After our last ordeal of having to wait an extra hour and a half for a shuttle at baggage claim with two tired kids from a redeye – yup. Never again. With valet, your car actually arrives at the Arrivals terminal outside of baggage claim. You get in and go!
We sailed through TSA and to our gate, plane was on time and in the air when we were supposed to be. Landed in LAX a few minutes a head of schedule and we were off to baggage claim to gather our (unnecessary large amount of) things. We were able to walk right out of baggage claim and onto the shuttle bus. This went SO smooth – and being midnight West Coast (3am in the littles minds) they were being troopers and the convenience of all of this was great. We rent from National for the sole purpose of walking up to the Emerald lane, getting in a car and going. Honestly, the conveniences of travel outweighs the few dollars you can save with other, hands down every time. After waiting at 2am West Coast in a car rental line for over 50 minutes with two kids, I will never ‘bargain car rental’ again unless it comes with a ‘get in a go’ option.
Things went great from the airport in Boston to the hotel in Los Angeles. It was smooth – going with time saving over money saving was worth the two hundred plus dollars, for sure! Kids snuggled right into bed and fell back to sleep – phew!! At this point it was almost 5am (East Coast) in their heads and I wasn’t sure it would happen. Then, an hour later Livy woke with a high fever.
And so, the smoothness seemed to fade and the fear of El missing all her treatments crept in. We spent our ‘free day’ Tuesday hanging in the hotel with a sick little munchkin. Fever subsided into the morning and she seemed to be ‘herself’. As night approached again and they fell asleep early, it wasn’t a few hours later that she spiked another fever. El remained fine and was still able to go to clinic the next morning, but Livy and Dad stayed behind.
Fortunately it was not COVID and just a virus of some sort ‘going around’, Livy seemed to bounce back during the days and fade in the evening. Then, that night that I ended up getting sick which turned into a sinus infection that knocked me out most of our time in CA. Aside from Liv and I, Dad and El stayed healthy and she was able to continue with all her appointments!
As we returned home, once again I was thankful for El completing her treatment and slightly saddened we couldn’t partake on the excursions we had planned. Nevertheless counting our blessings El passed all challenges and moved forward with her new dosing!
As always, thank you for following along and be sure to read Visit 2, Part II all about El’s challenges and dosing!
#flyingforfood #fortheElofit
xx
Ash
