3 months post graduation

Beck is 3 months post graduation.  He has been doing 8 peanuts / twice a day.  They drew blood and checked his igE levels, and unfortunately, his levels aren't lowering as much as they'd like to see.

Some people at this point have their maintenance dose lowered.  Beck hates (really, a word stronger than hates would suffice) peanuts.  Dry heaves, gags them down, has to power through it.

Every. single. dose.

So, to hear his maintenance dose wasn't being reduced to 8 once a day was pretty discouraging for him.  The plus is, he only has to eat them once a day now, but he has to eat 12, once a day.  :(

It's not fun to have to eat something you detest.

So, looking back on this journey...would I suggest it to others?

Absolutely.  It is life changing.

That being said, I wish I'd have had some real life experiences shared with me.  Nobody explained to me that most kids hate peanuts after they do the program.  I mean detest them.  I have only met 1 girl so far that enjoys eating them.  And, when she told me she loved them, she was only at 2 peanuts twice a day for her dose.

Asking someone to wake up in the morning (every single day) and eat 12 peanuts at breakfast before they can go about their day, gets old.  Real old.

The mom's of younger kids used to always lament to me that if only their child were Beck's age, this program would be so much easier.   I don't know.  I can reason with him better than with a 5 year old, yes.  But, he's a teenager.  He is old enough that little bribes don't work.  I think it's difficult at any age.

I am so grateful he's not allergic anymore and we don't have to worry about peanut products.  He is allergic to a number of other nuts as well.  At this time, we have decided to not do any more desensitization programs, or food challenges.  It's too much to ask of him at this point.  The other nuts are easier to avoid.  I cannot imagine asking him to eat peanuts PLUS walnuts, pecans, cashews, sunflower seeds, brazil nuts every single day as a dose.  I left it up to him and he decided he'd rather avoid those nuts than do the program again.  Haha.

So, there you have it.  Desensitized to peanuts.  Amazing journey.  So thankful it was an option for us.  My stress level has decreased tenfold.  Truth be told - it's not just getting to "graduation".  It's the after graduation real life grind that's a killer.

GRADUATION DAY!

Still miraculous to me.  

Today, was graduation day.  

At the office he ate 24 peanuts.  

No reactions.  

What a miracle!!!

 Chocolate milk and york's to help "wash it down"

With Kathryn, our nurse practitioner that we saw every week.  She is amazing, and we love her!

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For the next 3 months, we stay on a maintenance dose of 8 peanuts 2x/day.  He can also have peanuts throughout the day, in any form or amount.  But, the 8 peanuts am/pm still need to be either regular peanuts, dry roasted, or peanut m&ms.  So we can keep it consistent.

We will have followup appointments in 1,2,3 months.  At the 3 month appointment, they will draw blood and check IgE levels again.  If levels are still good, his maintenance dose should switch to 8 peanuts 1x/day.

Predicament

Beck had a track meet today.  They left the school around 10:30 am so I assumed they'd be home around 6-7.  I didn't think to put his nightly peanut dose in his bag.  I should've known better.

As 8pm rolled around and the meet was just ending, I started to get worried about his nightly dose.  He was a few hours away, and I knew they wouldn't be home before 9 (which is the latest you can take your dose.)

I was able to get a hold of one of the teachers / track coach.  He stood up on the bus and said, "Does anyone have any peanuts?"  Miranda raised her hand, and had a small bag of planters regular peanuts.  Perfect!

Beck said he's never taken his dose so fast.  The whole school bus of high schoolers watching him, and cheering his name, he took the handful, threw them in his mouth, chewed and swallowed.

That's what I'm talkin' about!  Do that everyday!  :)

Made me smile to think how awesome this is.  His "medicine" is a food most people eat every day.  We don't have to worry about going to a pharmacy, or having expensive co-pays, or shots, or refrigeration, or anything.  It's as simple as a bag of peanuts.  So cool.  So fun that a schoolmate was able to help him out.

Upped to 12

12 peanuts, twice a day!

Upped to 10

Almost done!  This week Beck was upped to 10 peanuts 2x a day.  No reactions at initial dose in the office.  It took him a long time to eat that many.  I have a feeling this week is going to be full of lots of time getting the dose down.

For those of us that have grown up eating nuts, I know what you're thinking.  Just take the dang handful and put it in your mouth, chew and swallow!  Not that hard.

For some reason...it is not that simple...

He seems to hate the feel of the nuts in his molars so he chews them with his front teeth.  This has caused mouth sores to form.  He's also got a patch of eczema that is coming on strong.  He had severe eczema as a baby, so I am confident this is coming from the peanut dosing.  But, we can handle eczema.  I'm curious to ask the Dr. next week about it.

Upped to 8

Well, we are finally back to where we were at Christmas time!  It's been good to take it slow.  I think it's given his body a chance to get used to the peanut.  He's really not loving peanuts.  As he does his dose, I have to remind him to smile - it tastes better with a smile.  He often has this look like he's about to throw it all up, just from the taste.

He also doesn't like the peanuts getting mushed into his molars, so he chews them up really fine with his front teeth.  To me, it seems like why not just take the handful, pop them all in your mouth, chew and be done?!  Oh well...I'll let him do it his way.

Today Beck was upped to 8 peanuts, and had no issues at all.  yay!

Only about a month left to go if all goes well (knock on wood)

Upped to 7

Upped to 7 peanuts today.  No issues at appointment.