For the Love of Dinosaurs

Our vacation was awesomely wonderful!  But like all good things, it had to come to an end.  So on the 30th of December, we rolled out super early and headed back home.  

About halfway between Twin Falls, ID and Albuquerque, NM there is a little place called Price, UT.  In Price, there is a dinosaur museum.  For us, it seemed to be the perfect place to stop and let the little ones stretch their legs and get out their wiggles.  And it was.   

The kids were in their jammies, but we didn't care.

We got to dig in a cool sand pit.  I found a nickel.

There was archaeology, as well as paleontology.  (Orry said his favorite part was "the killer man".)

And there were some dinosaurs that we had never seen before.  Like the Gastonia (shown above) and the Chasmosaurus (shown below).

We completed the first leg of the return journey and made it to Albuquerque by 11pm that same day.  We stayed up late, playing with the cousins.  In the morning, we played some more before heading out of town.  Now, with the remaining 14 hours to Houston, we decided to take it slower and go the distance over the course of 2 days.  The 31st was a pretty good driving day.  We made it to a hotel in Childress, TX by 9pm and spent the last few hours of the year watching movies and resting up.  We had a great night in a comfortable, quiet room.  Little did we know that we would need that good rest and comfort to help us get through the first 7 hours of our journey home.  In the end, our 7 hour leg took us 12 hours...

When Isaac woke up that morning, he wasn't feeling that hot.  He complained of belly ache and nausea.  Sometimes these symptoms are common with people with UC, so we chalked it up to that.  Once he felt okay enough to travel, we headed out.  It was 9:30am.  Before leaving, we decided to stop in Glen Rose, TX, home of Dinosaur Valley State Park and Dinosaur World.  It would extend our trip by an hour, but we thought it was worth the effort.  But a couple of hours into our trip we started to hit some "road bumps".  

First off, Isaac threw up a couple of times after eating some of those yummy clementine oranges.  So we nixed the oranges and kept on truckin'.  Then Orry had to go.  I mean, he really had to GO.  Now, if you've ever had the pleasure of traveling through Texas, you would know that sometimes rest areas and towns are hard to come by.  So it was with this part of our trip.  We ended up pulling over twice to let him go.  He felt better, so we moved along, but all the stopping was starting to wear on our nerves.  Then it happened.  Annie was crying about having to poop.  And so began Poopapalooza.  Annie couldn't hold it.  A mess was made.  Lucky for us, we were one mile from an exit at this point.  We pulled into a Burger King and I had the honor of taking her to the bathroom to clean her up.  15 minutes later, she's clean and we go out to the car to find out that Orry had to go again.  So we waited, all the time wondering what could have made our kids feel so lousy.  Then it happened again.  That distinct cry from Annie signaling that another mess was made.  Yep, round two.  So as Orry comes out the bathroom, Annie and I go back in.  20 minutes later, we're back on the road, worse for the wear.  

Now that would be fine if that was the end of it.  But it wasn't.  Three miles down the road, Annie had to go again.  Hello, CVS.  Meet Annie.  We ran to the bathroom, this time she was going to make it in time.  Yes.  No.  She didn't have to go.  False alarm?  I don't know.  Sometimes with babies you just don't know.  So we walked around the store for two minutes.  In hindsight it was two minutes too long and there was another accident and more crying.  Now, here's a side note.  When they tell you that bathroom floors are dirty, they are right.  They are dirty because of people like Annie and me.  Poop was everywhere.  It was the worst yet.  It took about 40 minutes to get it all cleaned up and for Annie to sit long enough to rule out there being any more trouble.  I wised up, finally.  I got some diapers (which we didn't need to use, thank goodness)  and we hit the road.  

We had planned on getting to Dinosaur World around 1pm.  We arrived at 4:15.  The park closed at 5.  Dinosaur World is a mile circuit of "life sized" dinosaurs.  We ran.  Literally.

Half of our pictures look like this because of the running.

Was it worth it?

I'll let you be the judge of that.  

But, with 100% certainty, I can say that it's so good to be home.  

TMI

You've been warned.

Poop talk is common in our house.  I guess that's what I can say about our journey thus far with ulcerative colitis. Orry is quite familiar with the Bristol Stool Chart.  Every once in a while I'll hear a little voice shout out "2!" or "3!" from the bathroom.

At the zoo before our doctor's appointment

There are other things to say about our journey thus far, like how high and how low you can get.  Seeing solid, bloodless poops can make you feel pretty good, especially if you haven't seen them for a long while.  Seeing loose, bloody poops can make you feel really lousy, especially if you just saw them a few months ago and really thought that this time you got it right and that things were on the up and up.

Isaac is in flare mode again.  He's breaking for the bathroom a couple of times a day (not too bad) and having long bouts of diarrhea.  Unfortunately, we are coming to the end of the list of things we can try.  At the beginning of this journey we had what seemed like a long list of options and medications that we could try.  Maybe it seemed long because we were so hopeful that we would never reach the bottom of that list.

Chicken running around the house at 6am...

What's in store for Isaac?  Currently we have increased his meds since he has gained weight.  No new meds. Not yet.  No steroids because clearly they don't do what they are supposed to do.  We are trying a high-potency probiotic called VSL 3.  We are reading up on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) and trying to pump ourselves up for such a drastic change.  And we have another colonoscopy scheduled for September 27th.  We are hoping to get a better diagnosis which will help us more effectively treat his disease.  We will also see if the flare is throughout his colon or if, fingers crossed, it is just in his lower colon, in which case we could try a medicated enema.

Don't feel too bad for Isaac, though.  He feels "great" and still has plenty of energy and is quite playful.

Now let's lighten the mood and talk a little bit about dinosaur poop.  The boys had a fun time reading, and re-reading, the book, Jurassic Poop: What Dinosaurs (and Others) Left Behind by Jacob Berkowitz.  We learned about coprolites and pretty much all things dino doo doo.  It's a really fun and informative read with some hilarious illustrations by Steve Mack.  I recommend checking it out from your local library.  It makes excellent bathroom reading.

Please keep Isaac in your thoughts and prayers as we get closer to the scope date.  Especially think about us on Monday, as we struggle with a 24 hour clear liquid diet.  No fun.  No fun at all.  We'll keep you posted!