Movin' On Up!

Did you just sing the title?  I sure did!  It's been well over 20 years since I last watched George and Weezy Jefferson and their maid in that deluxe apartment in the sky.  What was the maid's name, anyway?  Funny that I don't remember, 'cause I still to quote her when the dishes are piled up and the windows are covered with fingerprints.  Really, any time that there is something around the house that I don't want to do!  Oh, well.  Her name is not the important thing here anyway...
     
When I sat down to write today, it wasn't to tell you about the time that I spent watching television when I was a kid.  It was to share my excitement over one of the little things that makes such a big difference in my adult life.  Okay, maybe it's not a BIG difference, but it is exciting!

[insert drum roll]

Overachiever #1 is moving up from the EpiPen Jr to the adult strength EpiPen!!!  We've been talking about it for quite some time, as his weight has been hovering right around that magical 55 pounds that is the general cut off for up-dosing.  (Up-dosing...  Is that even a word?)  Sometimes he is a pound or two over.  Sometimes he is a pound or two under.  But he is hovering.  So last week we decided to go ahead and make the switch.

You may wonder why this is is so exciting.  Carrying an EpiPen is carrying an EpiPen, right?  WRONG!  With three Epi carrying Overachievers, we have them all over the place.  They are in Overachiever #1's waist pack, the school nurse's office, my waist pack, my purse, The Big Overachiever's waist pack and, of course, on the kitchen counter at home.  While Overachiever #1 and The Big Overachiever just carry a standard twin-pack, I am compelled to carry one twin-pack of the yellow and one twin-pack of the green.  It doesn't matter that Overachiever #1 has forgotten his waist pack maybe 4 or 5 times in as many years.  As the mom, it is my responsibility to plan for that once a year mishap!  Yeah, I've been a bit neurotic about that.

The excitement of up-dosing is that I can now carry just 2 EpiPens with me, because all overachievers in this household are now on the same dose.  This means that I can carry a smaller purse!  Or I can even go back to alternative carriers like the one that I used to have that was a leg holster.  Or maybe I'll just keep carrying my big purse and dedicate that extra space to MY belongings since the rest is taken up by children's books and portable game players and all of the medical notes that I still have not turned into the school secretary.

The little boy that once took away my own breath and all feeling of security in the moment that he stopped breathing during dinner is growing up and turning into a responsible big boy!  The feeling of helplessness that once gripped me has loosened its hold so that I can shake off the fear of group anaphylaxis to a food containing both alligator and peanuts when I'm the only one to remember the EpiPens.  (But it's possible, right?!)  We can now participate in most activities while taking precautions to limit the risk of exposure to allergens unseen.  The transition from the green-capped EpiPen Jr. to the yellow-capped EpiPen is more than just a change in dosing.  It is a tangible sign that we are movin' on up from an allergy family to a family that lives with food allergies.

Well we're movin' on up!  (Sing with me!)