Updose #14 (3 peanuts)

We are up to 3 peanuts!  That is about 3 grams of peanut! It is so crazy to see him eating his nemesis. We are so grateful that things have gone so smooth so far.  It always starts to raise questions in me about his tolerance before OIT.  Could he have been one of those kids who ate 3 peanuts before reacting? 7? If we would have done a challenge how far would he have made it?  The warm weather is starting and I am getting nervous for the evening doses when he wants to go outside and play after dinner and his dose.  I want him to be ok. I want him to be safe. But I want him to have a normal life where he can eat peanut and also play.  We will just have to see what he can handle as time goes on.  This has been such a blessing so far and we don't have that much more time before he graduates.  Chad took him to his appointment on Friday because I took Callan on his last preschool field trip.  Everything went well and the week is flying by!

taking his dose

being checked out after his dose

the nurse checking all of his vitals

I am thinking of making this for his graduation day as a t-shirt

updose #13 (2 peanuts)

Last week on one peanut went so smooth (knock on wood)!  He likes the taste of them which is great after a full week of eating.  On Friday we updosed to 2 peanuts.  In all actually we go by weight and it really ends up being about 2.5 peanuts.  His brothers sometime eat the peanuts with him for moral support.  I say moral support but it isn't difficult for Carter to eat them and the other boys are enjoying eating peanuts too since they were never in our house.  The boys got to spend the night at grandma's on Saturday and they did a great job dosing him and keeping him safe so it was a win win! Looking forward to being done and eating foods that contain peanut butter or peanuts.  I think getting to the number where he can try peanut butter is the next thing he is looking forward to.

eating 2 peanuts

not too bad

eating applesauce 

he still smiles :)

Updose #12 First Peanut

We made it!  A huge milestone! Carter had his first peanut last Friday!  It was such a huge day.  He was really excited to try it out and knew this was a huge step in his OIT journey.  I was a lot more nervous than I thought I would be, but I didn't need to be.  He ate it like a champ and did well.  He liked the taste.  He said it tasted like it smelled.  I think he was really proud of himself.  We know have to weigh out peanuts that are between .85 and 1.05 grams. He has tolerated it well so far and it seems much easier, but also a little more scary.  It is such a huge dose of peanut.  We are trucking right along and it is going by so much faster than I anticipated.  I just can't believe that he is eating a peanut.  Here are some pictures from the day and a video of him eating his first peanut.

right before his dose

getting his picture taken with Dr. Shakir before he eats his first peanut

here is the dose weighed out

can't believe he is holding that jar

just eating some carbs

our weight chart

he asked if we could stop at juice stop after for a little treat

here is the video

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Updose #11 500mg (peanut flour)

This is our last week on peanut flour! (500mg) Although it hasn't been that bad, we can't wait till we get to actual peanuts next week.  The hardest part of the flour is opening the capsules and getting all the flour out.  It tends to stick and if you squeeze on the capsule too hard it breaks!  We have found the bigger the capsule (higher the dose) the easier it is. Carter has mixed his in ice cream, applesauce and cool whip.  He, by far, loves the cool whip the most and is what we use the most.  We heard that using applesauce is suppose to be good for their tummies so we used that sometimes too.  He hasn't had any stomach issues since starting (knock on wood) and really no complaints of much.  Actually I take that back, he HATES waiting for 2 hours to get his heart rate back up.  I think if he understood what it feels like to go into anaphylatic shock it would be easier for him understand why I am asking him to slow down.  He knows just from what we have told him what could happen and I think to an 8 year old those words don't hold a lot of weight.  While I am so happy that he doesn't have a lot of fear of his allergy, which has made OIT so smooth, I  do wish he had a healthy dose of fear to keep him from going nuts during his observation time.  I am looking forward to maintenance so that he can just dose once, in the morning hopefully, and be free to do what he wants the rest of the day. I am so amazed that in a few short days he will be trying his first peanut!  This is such a crazy journey!  Praying the rest of the week goes smooth so we can updose to 1 peanut on Friday.

eating a go go squeeze before his dose in the office on Friday  morning

showing off his last bottle of peanut flour

I really get to eat a peanut next week?

we even dose while we are out and about.  last week we ate at long john silvers and dosed while we were there!