The email came out of nowhere. I had stopped expecting it. We hadn't heard anything since December when we scrambled to get a blood test and send the results after they first contacted us.
Then radio silence for FOUR months.
According to The Email, N passed the first round of screening and would be seen on Thursday morning at 8:30 am for the next level of screening. At Stanford.
Did I mention that we just bought a house and are scrambling to get that place ready and to get our (cluttered) house on the market? Our calendar is overflowing with end of year performances, celebrations and ceremonies. So, not the ideal time to add in twice monthly trips to Palo Alto but one does not look a gift horse in the mouth. One smiles and asks for their list of recommended hotels.
So, we scrambled. We booked flights, arranged a ride to piano for Izzie, moved things here and there. Five days later, N is watching Harry Potter on her kindle while flight attendants are preparing for take off.
On our way to the airport, I was navigating the endless construction on the highway connecting Boulder to Denver. I remembered being in the back of an ambulance with N, on a different stretch of that highway. The construction slowing our progress, the paramedic prepping another round of epinephrine. Her big brown eyes locked on me, her anchor. The privilege of being this brave girls anchor made me cry again today while she sang her little heart out to Kidz Bop in the back seat.
The clinical trial will test if the drug Xolair speeds up the process of desensitizing through oral immunotherapy. If you just went "huh?!?" Then go here: http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2014fall/i-can-eat-it.html
We won't know if N is getting the xolair or the placebo (double blind fun!) but she will be getting the oral immunotherapy treatment. That's right, The Treatment that's changing lives.
First though, my mighty 7 year old will go through two allergic reactions, while in the care of the revered and brilliant Dr. Nadeau at the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research. This isn't an abstract thing for her. She's been through several anaphylactic reactions. They will have plenty of monitors on her tomorrow so that as soon as a reaction begins, they can stop it. They can measure what she can tolerate. There is still a chance of anaphylaxis but if you're going to need a dose of epinephrine, you want to get it here.
It's a lot for a little girl. She's petrified. She picked out a dress she doesn't mind throwing up on. There hasn't been a lot of sleep. She really wants her sister here. I'm spent but smiling and trying to get us through these next few days emotionally in tact.
If her allergic reactions meet the trials requirements, she will soon begin desensitizing. We will head into tomorrow with as much cautious optimism I can muster.
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