Updose #16

No issues last week.  Beck kinda OD'd on peanut M&M's after the first few days.  :)  He said they were just too filling and rich.  He has opted for shelled peanuts most of the time.  Interesting to me!  I didn't OD, I probably gained 5 pounds I ate so many!

Today at his weekly up-dose appointment he was upped to 4 peanuts, twice a day.

This can be taken in the form of:
4 peanuts, 
6 peanut m&m's, OR 
1 tsp flavored peanut butter.

We aren't going to go with the flavored peanut butter option, because it contains sunflower seeds, which is my life threatening allergy!  He decided to wait and try peanut butter when he can have real peanut butter.  (Does Peter Pan Peanut Butter still exist I wonder???)        :)

Crazy

This is still such a strange sight to see in our house...

I haven't had peanut m&m's in 14 years, and boy did I miss them.  After Beck tried them for the first time, we all indulged.  There is something about their distinct flavor, yum.  I have eaten them every day, with every meal (yes, even breakfast) this whole week.  :)

The other odd thing was our date night.  Scott and I sat at the kitchen table and shelled peanuts!  That has never happened in our marriage...

Updose #15

Upped to 3 peanuts, twice a day.  The exciting thing about today is, since Beck doesn't have an almond allergy, he is allowed to have Peanut M&M's as his dose!!!!!!!!  I don't think he was quite as excited as I was...

3 peanuts = 5 peanut m&m's

We went to Target after our morning up-dose and bought shelled peanuts and peanut m&m's for our daily doses this week.

Updose #14

Today Beck was upped to 2 peanuts for his morning and night dosing this week.
Crazy stuff.

Dr. Jones came in the waiting room after Beck had his dose, just to chat with the patients.  He's a good Dr.  We parents commented that we can't believe how fast this is going.  We started the end of July, and here we are, after 15 weeks, at 2 full peanuts, twice a day.

It is a good lesson of baby steps.  That you truly can accomplish great things even if it's small steps (amounts).  If you keep consistent at something, it adds up!  It's not always big events that are the life changers.  :)

Not so great...

Last night was our first "home" dose with an actual peanut.  I think Beck got a little careless.  I'm not exactly sure.  He sat at the dinner table, and we all watched him as he held a peanut in the palm of his hand.  Something that previously would've been like poison.

It was a surreal moment to be in our home, at our dining table, and watching him about to eat a peanut...  It's hard to describe unless you're an allergy mom.

After he popped it in his mouth he only took a few chomps before swallowing.  He swished and swallowed after his dose, but about 15 minutes later he said he had a lump in his throat.

As a mom, you don't want to go into an absolute panic, but... we've been down this road before.  So, I questioned him as to what exactly the "lump" was feeling like.  Was it constricting?  Was it itchy?  Could he swallow?

After a few minutes I decided to be on the safe side we could give some Zantac, as I didn't think this was an allergic reaction, but possibly a little heartburn, which is common.  Well, we tried the Zantac, and it tasted so bad, he threw up.  Which posed a new problem!  Oh great.  Now he just vomited up the dose he just ate!

Dr. Jones was on call last night.  He instructed us to watch for allergic reaction to make sure it wasn't that, and to skip tonight's dose (not re-administer), and try again in the morning.

This mornings dose was just fine.  No issues.  Of course, we made Beck chew the small peanut 15 times before he could swallow.  :)



So, I think it was part psychological.  Perhaps part heartburn, or a small piece in his throat.  I don't know.  Regardless, it's all part of the process!

Updose #13

Today was the day!  ONE WHOLE PEANUT!

Although it looks like it's been munched by a mouse, it was what he got for his first 1 whole peanut dose.  At this stage, they are still doing the peanut by weight.  So, they had to shave some off of this particular peanut to get us to the right weight.

Of course we had to video the occasion...

Updose #12

Crazy stuff!  Today Beck was upped to 500 mg peanut flour.  This is the equivalent to 1 peanut.
It is still packaged in the capsules like I showed in a previous post, only, the capsules are really big now!

100mg peanut flour capsule and 500 mg peanut flour capsule compared to a penny.  :)

During his dose at the Dr's today he gagged, and had a hard time getting the concoction down.  We were out of pudding, so he had to mix it with applesauce.  And, in this amount of peanut flour, I will admit, it didn't look appetizing.  But, he powered through it.

Tonight, he was able to mix it into his chocolate pudding.  I lifted the mixture to my nose and was almost overcome by how potent the peanut smelled.  Under my tongue immediately started to water.  PEANUT!  He's at actual amounts that taste and smell like peanut.  That is miraculous to me.

One other boy that gets up dosed the same time as us had his first real cashew today.  Didn't go so well.  I think it was mostly psychological, but as he chewed one bite, he got this look on his face, and then up it all came...throwing up multiple times.  :(

These kids that have suffered from these allergies so long, have true anxiety.  It's hard to see.

So, next week Beck gets 1 actual peanut.  I am prepared for a situation like our little cashew friend had today.  If it doesn't go well, I have ordered a mortar and pestle so I can grind up the peanut and still put it in pudding if needs be...