I had really hoped to skip camp this year. I had every reason to believe that not only would it not be necessary, but we could even stretch our visits out to a year, avoiding the expensive summer season.
Life laughs.
In addition to his atopies, James has Tourette Syndrome. It was, comparatively, minor by the time we saw Dr. Li and had been for some months.
Since James has been reducing his medications (both Allegra and melatonin), his tics have increased exponentially. At 10 years old, his tics were bad enough that he asked to be medicated. He tried but the side effects to the medication were intolerable. His tics have increased to that point, perhaps beyond.
Dr. Li asked about increasing both Allegra and melatonin. I explained my hesitation at increasing either, but particularly Allegra. We will not e able to do any food challenges if we can't remove him from Allegra. She concurred and we met in the middle. His Allegra will remain the same, his melatonin will be increased. She is making a custom herbal formula for him. Hopefully, he will see some improvement. She asked him to try acupuncture locally, which I am in the process of arranging.
And, we are going back to camp.
Last year, I was in the position of advocated for camp and Darren and James were more reluctant. This year, they are the enthusiastic ones and I am ... worn. Darren and I spent a day re-arranging travel plans. We have a family trip scheduled, also Back East, for the week following camp. Planes needed to be changed, hotels booked, logistics figured out. But, it is done.
What I'm doing differently this year:
1. A full kitchen, not a microwave, mini-fridge, cook in the bathroom combo. I couldn't face that again this year.
2. Gulp. A red eye flight. We couldn't find anything else (using airline points). Anyone want to wager that this will be my 'never again' point next year?
3. Not make any plans of tourist things to do. What we see is fine, but, I found last year, James needs rest after acupuncture. Often, by the time he had the energy to go out and see, it was night. Not that there isn't a lot to see at night!