This visit opened so many doors for us.
From March to June, Theo went from just 0.25 mL of soy milk all the way up to 11.25 mL. He also started peanut at 0.4 mg and worked his way up to 16 mg, while continuing to increase pistachio.
My nerves were definitely not okay increasing these each week because we had seen so many reactions to soy during the first five years of his life, and he had never had peanut before. I had to keep reminding myself that we had spent the first year and a half of this treatment working toward this moment, and he really hadn’t had any major issues during this cycle.
At our Day 1 appointment, he challenged 22.5 mL of soy milk, 24 mg of peanut, and 4 g of pistachio. He ate each one, exercised in between, and had zero issues. This was such a huge moment because it opened so many doors for him, especially with soy.
When it comes to food allergies, many people can still tolerate oils made from their allergens. For example, some people with peanut allergies can eat foods fried in peanut oil, or those with soy allergies can eat foods containing soybean oil because the proteins are broken down so much that they’re much less likely to cause a reaction. In Theodore’s case, though, he had always reacted to soybean oil.
One of his very first reactions was actually to PAM cooking spray made with soybean oil. Years later, under the guidance of our allergist, we tried soybean oil again, and he broke out in a few hives on his face. We decided not to push it any further. Because of that, we had spent his entire life avoiding anything containing soybean oil, which has honestly been one of the biggest challenges because it’s in so many store-bought products.
Because he passed his soy challenge, he’ll now be drinking 22.5 mL of soy milk every morning, and we were given the go-ahead to start trying products that contain soybean oil too! We still have to avoid soy flour, soy protein, and actual soybeans, but opening up soybean oil has been absolutely life-changing for him.
I immediately went out and bought some of the foods he’s been wanting that most kids eat without a second thought. We bought Oreos, animal crackers, Cheez-Its, Froot Loops, Chips Ahoy, regular bread, Chick-fil-A sauce, ranch…the list goes on. We also got to buy him the food he had been patiently looking forward to the most—Aldi’s cheese turtle crackers. These crackers changed ingredients years ago, and we had to stop buying them. He was so excited to eat them again, and now he asks for them every single day!
Day 2 of appointments was spent escalating chickpea and introducing cashew. Both went really well with no issues. Over the next 11 weeks, we’ll slowly continue increasing peanut, cashew, and chickpea—slow and steady.
Like most of our visits, we planned the trip around my work schedule and whichever flights were the cheapest. We arrived on Friday, which gave us a full weekend of fun before appointments on Monday and Tuesday.
My aunt wasn’t around this trip, so I decided to rent a car through Turo instead of Ubering everywhere. On Saturday we went to Knott’s Berry Farm. I had never driven on a California freeway before, so I was pretty nervous, but it actually went really smoothly. (Seriously…what did we ever do before Google Maps and Waze? 😂) We got there right when the park opened at 10:00 and spent a few hours riding all the Snoopy rides, the spinning hats, and the bumper cars.
On Sunday we went to Seal Beach. The weather was perfect, and I sat watching Theo make new friends, build sandcastles, and put his toes in the water. We still had to do our daily maintenance and dosing, so we made sure to get back to the Ronald McDonald House early so he could relax and play—which is honestly his favorite thing to do there.
Over the next few days, we got haircuts, went to the Nike Outlet to buy some new red sneakers, and spent even more time at the beach.
This visit was extra special because there were four different families staying at the Ronald McDonald House who were also there for food allergy treatment. One of the families had a couple of kids around Theo’s age, and they became instant best friends.
After they met, the rest of our visit revolved around the kids hanging out together. It was so sweet watching them build a friendship while playing foosball, riding scooters, searching for lizards, and having Theo teach them all the fun board games at the house. We even spent a day at the beach swimming and playing together.
Making friends is always special, but for Theo to meet another little boy his age who has food allergies and is going through the exact same treatment was something really special to witness.
Some of my favorite things I overheard were:
“Are you dosing? We can go play a game since we can’t run around.”
“I don’t want to eat that because he’s allergic.”
“I washed my hands really good and my face too, just to be safe.”
Those little moments meant more to me than they’ll probably ever know.
We were supposed to fly home early Wednesday morning, but while I was packing the last of our things, we got a text saying our flights had been canceled because of tornadoes and storms back in Illinois.
It was definitely inconvenient since I was supposed to be back at work the next day, but I’m just thankful the cancellation happened before we checked out and headed to the airport. We were able to stay one more night at the Ronald McDonald House, and of course Theo was thrilled to spend one more day with his new friend.
I always pack extra treatment and maintenance foods for situations like this, but after never needing them before, I decided not to bring extras this time. Of course…this was the one trip we actually needed them!
We spent most of the morning running from grocery store to grocery store trying to find his maintenance foods. Thankfully, I found some of what we needed, but we did have to make a small adjustment to his maintenance plan once we got home because we had unexpectedly been away for a couple of extra days.
The following day was spent traveling home, and wow…it felt so good to finally be back after six days away from my other kiddos.
Our next visit is going to be extra exciting because our whole family gets to come. I can’t wait to show them around Long Beach and let them experience Theo’s appointments with us. ❤️
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