This last weekend Jessica and I (plus our dog and excellent friends Lauren and Tyrone) set off for an adventure. Indian Heaven Wilderness Part 2. We left town about 8 am and hit the trail head about 10:15. We started off and immediately I noticed the Huckleberries were ripening! I encouraged the crew to stop and try a few. About .75 miles in we hit our the first of 7 lakes. We headed up trail number 111 towards Blue lake. We ascended approximately 1000 feet over 2 miles before we arrived in the meadows for the final 2 miles. Our dog, Roxy, at age 12 struggled to keep up. At some points I carried her (she is about 60 pounds) to give her back legs a rest. Never the less she seemed to enjoy being in the outdoors. Once we arrived at Blue lake we noticed the tucked away campground was taken, but the big central camping area was available. We set up shop. We had a beautiful view of the lake. We discussed going for a hike, perhaps back to the peak Tyrone and I had been to about 3 weeks ago- it was going to be about 6 miles there and 6 back.
So we headed out but decided to let Roxy stay back at camp because she was in no shape to go with us. We followed the PCT through forest areas, along a ridge, past Junction Lake and past Lemie Lake Trail. It was about that time the girls were showing fatigue, it was about 3:30 (we had been hiking about an hour) so we decided to head back. Round trip we did about 6 miles. The evening was spent by the lake (it was a little chilly but I put my legs in) and then we built a grand fire, drank some whiskey and made our dinner. We talked for hours, enjoying the company, got out to a clearing and did star gazing. It had cleared up so the stars were popping out.
The next day we got ourselves up (it was very chilly and windy but blue sky) and packed up by 10 am. The hike out was suppose to be easier since it was mostly down hill, but for me it was terrible. My knee has been giving me problems and the down hill was torture. My old dog was going fast then me. Never the less we made it back to the car and hit the road at 11:30. We took the scenic way home and enjoyed our time.
It was an excellent weekend and I was happy to be home and see my kids. Before the kids got home we did our grocery shopping for the week. Jessica has some awesome menu items in the works, I can't wait to eat them!
We continue to see improvement and benefit from the Gluten Free diet in Adey. She continues to have excellent energy and has even began taking her medication without hiding it in her milk. For example, last week we took her to the park post dinner and she was more active then she has EVER been at the park. It is truly amazing to see all the progress she has made in the last month.
Last week we received a call from a doctor in California, he didn't leave a VM but we thought it might be related to the Mito testing. Jessica was trying to stay calm but I think emotions got the best of her and she was very anxious about finding out what was going on. After a few calls she spoke with the nurologist's nurse, who told her that we would have to come in for the results. Jessica, about this time, started to freak out. She called me and was really struggling- why would they make us come in? The mind goes to the worst possible situation. She was terrified. I tried to offer support and a more positive perspective but I was equally as terrified. Thank goodness she was able to track down the actual doctor who gave us the proper information: half of the testing for Mitochondral disease had been completed. She does NOT have some of the more common, perhaps more detrimental forms of mito. They are still looking at the more rare, but perhaps less devistating forms. The genetics doctor who thought it might be a good idea to have us come in and see Adey and get a more complete history, not to tell us the results of the testing. It seems like regardless of what comes back from these tests the general concern that she has some sort of cell energy issue. I'm thankful that we have medical insurance and people who really do seem to want to figure out what the heck is going on. The waiting sucks. The waiting is taxing. The waiting...I just decide to continue to focus on hope, the hope that we can help by the having her eat the right food and the hope that we will be able to take her off of her medication.
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