It’s taken me a while to update here because, honestly, these visits really take a toll on me. I struggle a lot both leading up to it and afterward so I’m a little behind!
During these visits, especially when it’s just Theo and me, it can be exhausting—not just physically, but mentally. Between packing, planning, and traveling alone, my head is always on a swivel. Not just for safe travel, but for his allergens all around us.
There’s shopping for food and trying to find our safe brands. Cooking and preparing his meals while we’re there to avoid cross-contact in a shared kitchen. Worrying about the upcoming appointments and challenges. Then traveling home safely and jumping straight back into work, prepping new food regimens, and dosing his new foods.
Once I get home, the best way to explain the feeling is numb, overwhelmed, and disconnected. I am so exhausted from being “on” and hyper-vigilant for days straight that I just shut down.
So all that to say, that’s why it’s been a while since I’ve done an update. And now we have a LOT to update on, so let’s start with Visit 6!
This was another solo trip with just Theo and me. We had a few flight delays, but overall the travel was uneventful, thankfully.
This was a pretty quick trip for us—flying in late Sunday night, appointments Monday and Tuesday, and flying out Wednesday. But we still made sure to have a little fun while we were there!
As for his appointments, this visit was the scariest one for me so far.
Day 1
We challenged three foods he had been slowly working on over the last few months.
The walnut challenge I felt very confident about since we had no issues with it thus far.
Next up, he escalated chickpea and pistachio. These foods are some of his bigger allergens, so they take things very slowly over multiple visits. For example, we started with just 1 mg of chickpea and, over the course of several months, increased to only 75 mg. At this challenge, he moved up to 100 mg.
The pistachio was also escalated.
As always, for the challenges to be considered successful, he has to exercise for five minutes after each food to make sure there are no reactions. He passed everything perfectly!
Day 2
We introduced PEANUT and SOY!
This was the hardest part for me to wrap my head around because we have spent his entire life avoiding these foods. But we had come a long way and spent a full year working our way up to this point, and his bloodwork was trending in the right direction.
I felt very grateful that my aunt offered to come with me to this appointment because she knew how nervous I was.
He introduced just under 1 mg of peanut and 0.50 mL of soy milk. The entire time he is there, he has monitors on him, and he has to relax for 15 minutes after each food. He passed both introductions with no issues!
Afterward, we celebrated with some fun. My aunt came to the Ronald McDonald House with us to play a board game, and then we headed to the aquarium to explore.
We had a quiet night after that and flew out early the next day. Minus a little traffic, we made it home without any hiccups.
I am praising God and so grateful for this program. He made it through this cycle, moving all the way up to 16 mg of peanut, 11.25 mL of soy milk, and over a full teaspoon of pistachio without any real problems.
We just got back from Visit 7, but I’ll save that update for another day!
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