Finally the day was here for Bear to do his 24 peanut challenge. I fluctuated between being nervous- 24 peanuts was a big amount! And being totally relaxed because he’d had no real issues the whole way. As usual, Bear was quickly checked into his room, vitals checked and then he was ready for the dose. If you know us personally, you may have seen that we did a Facebook Live video of Bears challenge. Also as usual, Bear ate his dose with zero issues. Bear was given a certificate of completion and a set of Peanuts figurines as a gift from his doctor. (Charlie Brown and friends- not the legume, lol). We took a few pictures and I tried to wrap my head around the newfound freedom that Bear has been granted.
Bear was re-tested (RAST and scratch) for tree nuts. The RAST was amazingly, joyfully negative. The scratch showed a slight hive for cashew so we scheduled a Cashew challenge for Bear for the following week.
During the week, I didn’t feel safe changing anything that Bear ate, as I didn’t know if he would still react to Cashews or if he would be freed from that allergen. It wasn’t until the following week when he passed his cashew challenge that I really felt a weight lift off of us. After the appointment, I asked him what he wanted to eat for lunch. Was there anything he wanted that he wasn’t allowed to eat before? He decided he wanted to go to the mall and get some Chinese food. It was really cute and made me choke up a bit seeing how excited he was. He kept telling the lady serving his food that this was his first time eating Chinese food because he graduated “peanut therapy”. While I’m pretty sure she didn’t know what he was talking about, she did understand it was his first Chinese food and how excited he was, so in celebration, she gave him about 5 fortune cookies. Bear loved his food and was fascinated with the cookies and there messages inside. Two of Bears fortunes read: Good fortune will come your way. It was true because OIT has opened so many doors and eased so much anxiety. As we walked through the mall, Bear kept pointing at places- the candy store, Godiva, an ice real shop, Mrs. Fields, the smoothie place, and Sanders and asking me “So I could eat there now, too, Mommy?!” With a lump in my throat I happily kept saying “Yes, Bear!” It was an incredibly happy thing for both of us, I really can’t put adequate words to it to say how freeing and exciting and happy it was. We did stop at Sanders and bought a piece of candy and a bumpy cake for Bear. Then, after we picked up his big brother we made a stop at Baskin Robbins for Bears very first ice cream from an ice cream parlor ever. Bear did like it, but only ate a little bit of it, passing the rest onto his brother. Same with the bumpy cake we gave him after dinner- he said it was just “ok” and didn’t eat much of it. Lol. Since then he’s had many new foods from many new places and each one is it’s own little celebration. Bear is also able to eat the snacks served at school and no longer has to bring his own safe snacks to school, which was also very exciting for him.
Although Bear continues to be allergic to peanuts, his body is desensitized and he can basically eat what he wants now, with the exception of fish- specifically Tilapia, which is is still allergic to. He does need to still have an Epi pen on him at all times and there is a mandatory rest period following any ingestion of peanut, which includes after his daily maintenance dose of peanuts every morning.
I am so incredibley grateful for OIT and Bears amazing doctor and the staff there. The freedom from fear and the limitations that we have been given by OIT is such a tremendous blessing.
Bring It On, Peanuts! 