It's been exhausting the past few days & not really much time to update the blog(sorry).
Kobi seemed to be really enjoying his treatments (with some encouragement) & it has been helpful having him see the other kids throughout the treatment time.
So we had 5 good days & Saturday was "Meltdown day" for both Kobi & Me.
Kobi was super flared and itchy this day & everything was just harder. Getting changed was a drama, not itching and staying under the water, not wanting the compresses on him & yelling at the assistants, not wanting the creams applied- just everything.
I too had hit that "emotional day". I want to never hear the word "ITCHIES" or "SCRATCH THAT YUKKY OFF", it's doing my head in and along with being away from family & friends is sometimes harder.
Mum has kept me sain and been taking over when Kobi does not want to cooperate with me.

On Sunday we took a drive to Beziers about 1 1/2hrs from Avene' to also see if the shopping malls were open & have a look around.
Well NO it seems that it doesn't matter the size of the town EVERYTHING closes on Sunday's exception restuarants & eating places.
That's cool so off we drove to ADGE, which was the coastal town of Beziers. We sat at some fancy restaurant/bar overlooking the harbour just to have an ice cream (as it seems a lot of the packaged ice creams/ice blocks are not plain flavours that Kobi can have. Nice little outting for the day.

Monday, Mum decided she for take Kobi for his treatments this day & give me a bit of a break. I also needed to get afew supplies from the larger supermarket further down the road- well it was raining and the roads were a mess. (For the NZer's, it was like driving in the rain down the Paraparas on the wrong side of the road) I made it there & back although a little late picking Mum & Kobi up from the treatment centre.

Tuesday, I took Kobi in earlier to see the DR before treatments. He has some little spots which are infection & more rashly under his underarms so I wnted to get to checked out. He is now also on cream on the spots & an antibacterial wash to help clear it up as it is a virus. Had to get a script for these, and of all days the Pharmarcies were on some sort of national strike! Anyway got it sorted.
We decided to go for a drive to Saint Pons de-Thomieres, via Olargues, then back home through Saint Chinian as there was some wineries. Then I thought we'd take the D20 then the D136 the back way through to the main D909 back up into Bedariex and home to Avene'. TRANSLATION: went went tikky touring & took the country roads home, it was nice scenery & Kobi enjoyed the car trip. By the time we got back to Avene' it was dinner time so we drove straight to our restuarant. Big day but nice to see the "countryside"

Wednesday, Mum took Kobi again for treatments & was hoping the "Nartzi" lady wasn't in the face spray room again as Mum was told off last time for walking in and not waiting (ha. Ha). So I dropped them off and I went into the village to go subs out the Wednesday markets & see the pharmacy. Well the markets were all of 7 stalls- the baker, the woodcarver, the jewellery maker, the veggie farmer, the wine & cheese man, the honey lady & the butcher .
That afternoon we also did a workshop on "alternatives to scratching & applying emollients etc" this was really good and learnt some new tricks to try.
We had a drink & catch up with Amber & Jake, Emily & Max as they finish treatments this Friday & go home. Their boys have a rare skin condition called PRP and it was their first time here also in Avene' to see if maybe it could help the boys with some relief also. It does seem that there is something in this "Magic Water" and personalities are coming back to the kids whom have otherwise always been sore, itchy, sick etc etc it's nice seeing them all get along & enjoy themselves.

Thursday, an earlier start today as we had another DR appt before treatments . Well there was a "Meltdown" before breakfast as Kobi had to be woken not allowing him to wake naturally himself.
Treatments went well and I can see improvements in Kobi's skin& the backs of his legs don't seem as "angry/red". His skin seems a lot softer & moistened. Instead of doing the local face spray we are now doing the Compresses daily as it is upsetting Kobi too much with trying to get the spray on his face. So now as long as we do a compress under/around his neck daily it seems ok.

It has now been nearly 2 weeks Kobi has been off Vallergan to get him to sleep at night. This has been awesome as it means he has been going to sleep "naturally" not medicated which is a huge thing I am so glad that we have been able to do this.
We have had "GLOVES OFF" each morning at breakfast which has also been awesome.
Slowly but surely we are getting there however they will be thing that need to change when we get home "routine wise" & perhaps bedding linen etc.

I feel more informed & thankful for the Mum's before us for their advice & support. I feel that the "routine" we had been doing back home (creams, wet wrapping etc) has been really helpful for Kobi and been better for his healing journey.

Must away, Master Kobi has woken and we re going to take him down to the park for a Scoot around.

Lots of love,
Megan, Kobi & Nana Viv xoxo