8 WEEKS STRAIGHT AND FEELING GREAT!!!!

He did it again! My hero. My warrior. My rock star. My brave boy. This makes 8 straight weeks of updosing! BOO-YA! The doctor even told us, 'you're really cruising now!'. Here's hoping! She actually said that he only has NINE more updoses til actual peanut! YIKES! I know, I know chances are he won't be able to updose every single week (though we had a nice run)- I mean, he's already missing next Thursday (hee hee). And there is a chance he may have to down-dose which would make it more than 9 updoses until reaching a peanut.... but the possibility of nine?! - that number seems so small. If all goes well, just nine more updoses until he eats a peanut? CRAZY! (He then would have another 10 or so actual peanut updoses until graduation.) She told us he only has five more of these liquid doses, followed by four capsule doses (peanut flour put into a capsule mixed at an apothecary that we mix into a spoonful of apple-sauce). INSANE!

Anyway we were back in Coby's favorite room- the room that is filled with games- the room he hasn't been in since his very first dosing day.

They checked him out (took temperature, blood pressure, checked lung capacity, pulse, blood oxygen level, stethoscope, looking in nose, ears and throat) and declared him, "good to updose!" Coby actually asked all about the blood pressure thing. He asked if he could squeeze it and how it works. She told him you turn a knob to open it and squeeze until the lever gets up to 160 and let go and close the knob. When you hear the heartbeat is the top number. I never understood how that thing worked so it was cool Coby asked!

Blood pressure

Coby told the doctor, "I started writing a blog," and the doctor said, "I know, I've been reading it!" (Some of the doctors and nurses are on the OIT group on facebook where we posted it. He was so excited that they are reading his blog too.)

And yay for another boring updose (mostly ;)

I'm sooooo bored!!!! (waiting to dose)

Up-dosing!

Once they dosed him and he drank his water and ate his applesauce we played games non-stop. (stopping for a minute at the 20 minute checks.)

Chess (followed by chinese checkers and then battle-ship)

Coby loooooves doing the 'blowie' thing during the 20 minute checks. The problem is if he doesn't like the number he is getting- he quickly pushes it back down before the nurse even sees the number, quickly breathes in and pushes out- over and over again to the point the little lever was not getting up as high as it needed to go and the nurse said, "Take a deep breath. You are sounding mucousy now." And another nurse rushed in thinking his lung capacity was falling (which would indicate a reaction.)

Me, "Coby you need to stop doing that. All you are doing is getting out of breath and going to get dizzy. Take one deep breath, breathe out as hard as you can and DO NOT TOUCH THAT LEVER." He took that breath, breathed out and his arm automatically jumped up to push that lever back down, as if his arm was on a spring and has a mind of its own.... but this momma is quicker than that and I grabbed that arm of his, from then on. Each. and. every. time. he. grabbed. for. that. thing. over. and. over. again. Yep, I was faster than he was!

(Hey, we all know momma power stories... One of my coolest ones--- we were sitting at the dining room table and under 2 year old Josh was standing on the couch in the living room (the room adjacent to where we were). I heard a sound, turned around and saw Josh beginning to fall head first towards the coffee table. Somehow I managed to get up out of my chair, push it aside, run the 20 feet to the next room, dive for him and catch his head just before it slammed into that table. Yitz to this day still says, "If I didn't see it, I wouldn't believe it. How was that even possible? You flew faster than the speed of gravity!")

Thankfully once I started catching Coby's arm and Coby calmed down he got his number back up to his base-line. Pheeeeeew! 

After the hour was up and the doctor checked him out again, I asked her if I really need to be staring at him writing down every little thing he does during the hour of observation.

She replied, "Of all OITers here- I've never seen such a detailed reaction diary as yours." Ha! Yep, that's me. She told me I don't have to write down what he seems to 'usually' do (like lip swipes)- but only if something is really what is out of character for him or more extreme.

"Are you more calm about this process now?" she continued. How did she know I was so freaked out? My blog is not public on that board. I act totally calm in front of her---- I guess my detailed reaction diary as well as my typed up 38 questions on day one (and a dozen more the next week) clued her in. LOL.

Before leaving, they packed up our cooler with TWO jars of the solution (in case something happens to one while away), 

and the doctor said, "See you next Thursday!" and proceeded to do the 'winky wink' thing when Coby wasn't looking. 

Yep, the entire staff is in on Coby's surprise! 

IYH all will go well on our trip and shifting his dosing time from night to morning, followed by a day in the parks will go smoothly.

In the meantime, my boy up-dosed today to 15 milligrams! That's 1/18th of a peanut! Our next up-dose appointment will be 20 milligrams which is 1/14th of a peanut. We are inching closer and closer....

Check out his "GAME CHANGER" shirt- 

after all OIT is a real game-changer!

I just updosed to 15 milligrams- 1/18th of a peanut!

SHHHHHHH

So today should be Coby's only updose for the next TWO weeks. That's right, NEXT Thursday Coby will be skipping his updose, but this time I'm okay with it.... because WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!!!
And Coby doesn't know! SHHHHHH!!!!!

We have had to have a lot of hushed conversations and extra phone calls to the doctor over the last few weeks to figure out how to make it possible.

-One cannot take liquid on a plane unless it is medicine. Will TSA recognize our 'grape koolaid concoction' in the glass jar as medicine? Our doctor composed a letter for us to get it through security and we reached out to other OITers who have traveled on a plane with their dose. They told us it should be okay- just be prepared for it to be checked for explosives and sent through 'the black box'. Hope it goes smoothly- after all we cannot go anywhere without that jar!

-His dose must remain cold which will mean carrying it in a cooler, dumping out the ice cubes to get through security and finding a place (just after security) to refill our ice packs with ice cubes for the duration of the plane ride, possibly getting more ice as soon as we land and getting it into a fridge ASAP.

- We are doing a 'split stay' and staying in two different hotels- check out of one hotel is 11AM with check in at the other at 4PM. The hotel already told us they would keep it in a fridge for us and transfer it to the second hotel for us. I have trust issues so we will probably transfer it over ourselves with hotel B agreeing to  keep it in a fridge until our room is ready.

-We asked the doctor to see to be home with TWO jars of solution this time in case one should break.... thank goodness that hasn't happened yet--- but knowing Murphy and his damn laws- being a thousand miles away from our dose supplier would be an opportune time for us to drop the jar and have it shatter. We need a backup!

-Coby's dosing time is 4:15PM (sh). Our doctor does NOT want Coby dosing in the parks and risking a reaction there and instead wants him dosing in the morning for the duration of the trip.

How do we make the switch from late afternoon to morning?

Day one shouldn't be too difficult. Many offices dose kids TWICE a day anyway- so we would simply dose him around his regular time the day we arrive, and then the following morning he'd wake up early, eat breakfast (to get the carbs in) and then dose and have his applesauce. That makes me a little nervous (shocker) because that's two doses within a 17 hour period (instead of the usual 24 hour period).

We will remain in our hotel room for the first hour after dosing to observe him (first hour has the highest chance of reaction) The second hour of  'no exercise' we'd start heading out to the parks, walking slowly to the car, driving over and walking to the gate. The doctor said 'regular walking' should be fine. I had even asked if we should bring an umbrella stroller so Coby could ride instead of walk and the doctor said that isn't necessary. (This will be our first trip sin over 20 years of not having a stroller with us. WEIRD!)

We are typically at the park gate's 45 minutes before opening- so most of Coby's 2nd hour will be used up walking to /from car and waiting for the park to open.
If the park opens before the 2 hours is over, we have to resist our hard wiring of rushing right in and take it leisurely.
It would be great if Coby's 2 hours were completed before we left the hotel room but that would mean waking up 5AMsh each morning which is impossible!

-Since Coby's dosing time will be in the mornings... his other allergy medicine will have to be shifted from morning to night. Meaning the day before the switch we would half dose him morn and night (so he's not completely out of medicine during one of the dosings) and then boom shifted to night.

-On the day we come home Coby would still dose in the morning (it needs to be done several hours before getting back on the plan but since our plane doesn't leave til noon it's no problem at all) AND he'd have to dose that evening too. TWO DOSES IN ONE DAY. I find that a little )okay, a lot) nerve-wracking, but again many doctors have children dosing twice a day anyway so it should be fine. And again we'd have to shift his other medicine back to the mornings.

I wonder if this will be the last time we have to get on a plane with 'disability' stamped on Coby's ticket. Having a food allergy means you are covered under the disability act and we are allowed priority boarding to wipe down the area/the seats/the windows/the tray/the seatbelt/the arms. We have to remind the stewardesses on board as well. They make the announcement not to consume nut products near him. I know Coby is safer now than he ever has been---- but this may actually be the very last time we need to make all those arrangements when flying. We also only fly jet blue since they are great with allergies and don't serve actual nuts themselves. I love jet blue (well as far as loving a plane can go since I hate flying) but wonder if I'd ever be comfortable enough to switch airlines even after OIT graduation. Will I ever truly be okay letting my guard down? I honestly don't know.... especially 35,000 feet up in the air with no easy access to a hospital. Now I finally understand what OIT moms meant with, "You will have to go through an emotional desensitization as well as a physical one."

This trip will be interesting and different.

But it's Disney.

And Disney is magic!

It is sad that Josh won't be with us since his second semester at Rutgers already began, but he had an amazing winter break; A few days at home. A week in the Poconos with his friends. A week in Nicaragua volunteering- bringing in water to the schools, repairs, playing with kids, building tables and swingsets, seeing volcanoes, surfing, boat rides with monkeys, baby turtle hatch, ziplining. He was also offered cocaine from a native there. YIKES! (He said, 'no thanks!' and reassured me saying, 'don't worry- the guy was just being friendly.' Ooooookay.)

Again COBY DOES NOT KNOW WE ARE GOING AND WILL NOT KNOW UNTIL WE GET TO THE AIRPORT! I think for me, I almost look forward to revealing our trip and seeing my kid's reaction more the trip itself!!!

Since NCSY winter regional 2015, over a year ago- where they had an orthodox Disney animator there as well, Mikey has been drawing Mickey Mouses. Lately (because of the trip) he amped it up and every little bit of time he'll draw Coby a Mickey Mouse and say 'you like it?' As we pull up to the airport Mikey has one last Mickey Mouse waiting for him- a hang man game that spells out GUESS WHAT- and on the flip side SURPRISE YOU ARE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!!!

Cannot wait to see the look on Coby's face!

Truth be told, we have a reputation for surprising our boys with trips to Disney throughout the years, but Coby's only true 'surprise' of a trip to the parks happened four years ago---- half his lifetime ago- so he doesn't really remember it. And because of my improvisational skills/lying abilities- hee hee, I was able to convince the children why a disney trip wouldn't be feasible each winter break.... just before surprising them.
Actually I never outright "LIED" to the kids, I just spun my words.
For example, Coby, "Mommy I get to go to work with you on Friday?"
"Yep!"
"And I'll get to go with you the entire week after that too!"
"I am so happy the two of us will be spending so much time together!"

Anyway if you ever want to surprise your kids read on... some surprises we pulled off were EPIC!

Growing up I went to Disney one time when I was almost 12. Yitz went nearly every year. He said he'll take me after we got married. So we went. When Josh was two Yitz' parents told us, 'we are going to Disneyworld this summer, wanna come.' And I said to Yitz, "How could we ever say 'no' to a trip to disney?!" So we went. (Though that was the last time we would ever go in the summer---- the heat is BRUTAL! In fact when we went in the summer after we got married, I got such a bad migraine from the heat that we had to leave the parks at 2PM for me to get back to the hotel to vomit and sleep.) When Josh was 3 we took him to Disneyland in California. When Josh was 4 (I was pregnant with Mikey) we went to Disneyworld in October. And so the addiction begins....

- 2004: The first 'semi-surprise' we did just before Mikey turned 3 (under 3 and the kid is free!). I call it a semi-surprise because the kids got a two week notice before this trip. TRUE surprises happened either the night before or the DAY OF!
We had not been to Disney since 2000. Josh age 4 at the time asked me, "when can we come back to Disney?" And I said, "when you are seven." Well 9-11 happened and there was no way I was getting back on an airplane anytime soon. (it took another 13 years before I stepped foot back on a domestic flight- and only with medication!) but I could not forget my promise to Josh. I keep my word. Josh had forgotten my promise, but I didn't---- so thank G-d for the auto train!
I drew a puzzle and cut it up and gave the boys a couple of pieces each Chanukah night with the final pieces spelling the words the last night of Chanukah.

-2006: DAY OF SURPRISE: OOOOH this was a good one! The auto train station is in Lorton, VA which is near Baltimore. We prepacked the car and told the boys we had to head to Baltimore to attend a party for a new baby. I even went so far as to pack up presents for the boys (talking mickey mouses) in baby wrapping paper! "On the way" to Baltimore we passed right near the auto train station & Josh conveniently said, "oh my goodness I really have to pee can we stop at this train station just so I can use the bathroom."
"Sure."
Yitz took Josh to the bathroom and when they came back out I pretended to freak out, "They took our car ONTO the train by accident! What do we do????"
Josh & Mikey got very nervous. "We are stuck here? How are we going to get to Baltimore."
Yitz pretended to talk to a conductor about getting our car back.
I said, "Since we'll be stuck here for a little bit, why don't we get on the train and look around."
I discretely showed our boarding passes to the train guy and we got on.
Josh started to freak out, "What if the train leaves with us on it? We're not supposed to be here. We are going to get arrested!!!"
After a little bit we have rachmanus on the kid & say, "guess what- it's not a mistake- WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!!"
Were we met with shrieks and holy molys?
No we were not.
"Ha ha." -Josh
"I don't believe you." -Mikey
"Really we are going!"
"I don't believe you!" -Mikey
"Neither do I." -Josh

(This went on for a while!)
I had to start pulling out all our tickets for the parks and reservations to the hotel to prove it to them.
When they finally believed us, yep- they FREAKED OUT!!!!

In the car driving to "Baltimore"

On the auto train when they finally believe us!

-2007: NIGHT BEFORE SURPRISE: We discussed getting Chinese that evening as if it were a last minute decision.... what the boys didn't know is that we KNEW we would be getting Chinese that night and I had pre-bought fortune cookies. I then used tweezers to pull out all the fortunes that were already in there and made up my own fortunes. Each fortune was a quote from Disney. The lucky numbers on each fortune was -1-06-07. On each fortune was also a chinese character of a single letter. All six fortunes' characters spelled out DISNEY in Chinese. The lucky numbers were the date we were leaving (the following morning). That was pretty epic!

-2008: Well you'd think the boys would catch on by now... but nope. I'm good at improvising and know how to do this! A package came from the kids' school (not really) that said DO NOT OPEN UNTIL INSTRUCTED. Kids were getting dressed to go to school a few days later (or so they thought). Our phone then rings. It is the "school" saying that since it is the final day of school before vacation begins the dress code will not be adhered to and instead to open the boxes the school had sent and wear what is in there to school. We had the boys close their eyes and dressed them. We told them to open their eyes and Josh started reading what their shirts stay and COMPLETELY FLIPPED OUT. It was hysterical!

 The video was sooooo cute that we entered it into a contest with thousands of others of entries and made it to the top 5!

The biggest reveal though would be the night we returned from Disney and we revealed to them that we were going to have a baby!

-2010: Why not 'redo' the shirt theme with a twist? (Actually for the past several years I made several matching disney shirts to wear on our trips, so making shirts was my thing...) Check out the difference in shirts from 2008 to 2010! Awwwww!

Anyway that morning we told the boys we had to head out and asked them to grab Coby for us. Coby was wearing a shirt....

-2011: I faked calling Yitz to bring home pizza when really I home-made pizza into the shape of Mickey Mouse. Yitz called me when he was outside the house and I snuck my pizza (in a pizza box) out to him and ran back into the house. Yitz rang the bell and I shouted to the boys, "Get the door- dad has pizza for us." He came in, the boys opened the box and....

2012: You'd think by now the kids would catch on BUT we really did not think we could go again. Since 9-11 I had refused to fly and Coby was since diagnosed with his allergy. In previous years, we had been traveling by auto train, in the coach car for way cheaper than flying would be (and we had our car with us.) Once Coby was diagnosed we knew we couldn't travel in the coach car again- with free flowing food- the dining car, nuts in the snack car, and there was no way we could afford a private bedroom in the auto train....
.... UNTIL we found out the airline miles transferred over to AUTO TRAIN TICKETS and we were able to trade it in for TWO YEARS OF FREE BEDROOM ROOM TICKETS ON THE AUTO TRAIN. BOO-YA!
So how did we surprise 'em this time?
Since I was always misplacing my cell phone this wasn't such a stretch. I had bought a little Mickey statue and hid it in some recycling box together with my phone. I went into whining mode, "I can't find my phone again. Where is my phone? Did anyone see my phone? Can someone call my phone?" The boys called my phone and heard it ringing from inside the box. They dug it out for me together with:

The boys were excited but then voiced a concern was, "But Coby can't travel on the auto train! It isn't safe for him!" My sweet sweet boys concerned for their little brother. When we told them we got our own private bedroom for the very next day they FREAKED OUT! In fact the kosher vendor that supplied food to the auto train was completely nut free! Since we couldn't take Coby upstairs to the dining car because of the other foods around we had our meals brought downstairs to our room.

eating meals in our bedroom

Beds now pulled down for shluffy!

2013: Okay- by now we figured Josh & Mikey were old enough to help 'plan the surprise'. We gave them the heads up a couple of weeks in advance and we all got ready to surprise Coby. I decorated a huge box by disneyfying it and had his pal "OSO" sitting on top. Coby opened up the box and disney balloons flew out of it, including one huge Mickey head that had a sign attached to it:

We used our last set of free tickets for a bedroom on the auto train but this time found out that the kosher vendor that provides food for the auto train was no longer safe :(  So Yitz took the boys upstairs to the dining car for their meals and washed up well afterwards. I had packed a cooler of meals for Coby and myself to last the 24 hours it took from leaving our own home and getting to our hotel.

2014: No January trip to Disney--- we celebrated Mikey's bar mitzvah in Israel.... MAZAL TOV!
But a year without Disney?!
I couldn't handle that.
Since Josh would be graduating high school that June and would be going off to Israel for the year, we decided to do a huge road trip and send him off with a bang.
 Instead of sending the kids to camp that summer we did a West Coast road trip that of course included Disneyland.
Since sooooo much planning had to go into it we revealed it to the kids several months in advance.
On MY birthday. (I was soooo down on my birthday that year because of THE number- I still can't even write that number- that I needed something to cheer me up so of course a Disney (I mean a west coat) trip reveal would help cheer me up.)
One of our favorite rides in Epcot was Soarin' over California- so I made a slideshow which included the entirety of the ride and all the landmarks included in Soarin': Disneyland, Monterey, San Diego, Los Angeles, Yosemite, San Francisco, and the video ended with "HOW ABOUT WE DO SOARIN 'in 3D (plus Vegas and the Grand Canyon.)- PACK THOSE BAGS SUMMER 2014!"

The boys watching the slideshow revealing our trip

2015: Okay now Mikey REALLY wasn't expecting to to go this year for two reasons:
1. Josh was away for the year and he knew it would break my heart to go to Disney without Josh.
 2. We no longer had that free bedroom on the auto train and it was too expensive to pay out of pocket for that AND there was no way in hell I'd ever step foot on a domestic flight. (True, I made an exception for the West Coast trip but it wasn't pretty...) In 2015, we revealed it on Chanukah.
The last night the boys opened their present to find.... a luggage scale!!!
 HUH?
Well Josh had to take our other one to Israel with him and we need one too.

Um, a luggage scale?

They then opened present two which revealed their magicbands. (Disney's newest version of tickets.) BOOYA!!!!

What are these?

(Truth be told, it did break my heart to go without Josh. In fact I even dreamed that Josh decided to surprise us and met us in Fantasy land telling us he spent 2,000 dollars for the day and I was just so excited to see him and hug him that I didn't care how much he spent.... During our trip, when we were in the same spot that I saw him in my dream (near the 7 dwarves train) I actually did look out for him half expecting to see him there. He didn't show. I know, I know- kids grow up- they leave. Life goes on. :( )

2016: THIS WAS AWESOME!
But we didn't go to the Disney parks :(.
Several weeks ahead of time I told the boys that we had a Bar Mitzvah to go to in Miami.
Now why would they buy into it?
Because the 'bar mitzvah' would mean we had to make arrangements for Mikey to miss an entire week of school and the first day of finals (which he was to make up the following week)!!! ( It was the only way to include Josh since college has a totally different winter break.) 
That's HUGE.
We had to do a lot of pre-planning. And I told the boys they needed to pack fancier clothes like pants instead of jeans, shabbos shoes and polo shirts for the casual wear bar-mitzvah. (Honestly, they did not need shabbos shoes for the trip but I needed it to sound legit---- so as soon as they gave me their shoes I hid them in my closet.)
I also told them that we would probably be able to squeeze in one day at Universal for the newest Harry Potter additions.
Hmmmm, missing finals? Packing different types of clothes? Arrangements with the school? That's not a trip to Disneyworld! Mom even admitting we would go to Universal--- that is so out of character for her if it were a surprise trip to Disney it would be a total fake out! Nothing like this!
So they 'sort of' believed me. But Josh kept saying, "Come on mom- I know we're going to the parks."
"I swear to you we are not!"
"Yes we are."
"This conversation is very depressing to me because it will be soooo difficult for me to be THAT close to disneyworld but NOT going into the parks." My eyes were literally welling up at the thought of NOT going into the parks."
"We know you can act- you are good!"
"I PROMISE WE ARE NOT GOING TO THE PARKS! WHEN HAVE I EVER BROKEN A PROMISE?"

When Josh saw us driving AWAY from Orlando and saw signs that said "MIAMI" he said, "oh my gosh, we really aren't going to the parks?!"
"I told you!"
The boys got busy on their phones, barely glancing up as we drove South..... towards PORT CANAVERAL. As Yitz and I caught sight of the ship we were holding back fits of laughter at our oblivious boys who were completely absorbed in their phones.

When the car finally stopped- LITERALLY NEXT TO THE DISNEY CRUISE, Mikey looked up and gasped, "Uh. Josh. There. is. a. boat. next. to. our. car."

Josh slowly glanced up.
"JOSH. THERE. IS. A. BOAT. NEXT. TO. OUR. CAR!"
OMG---- the look on their faces when they realized what was happening!!!!!

Is this real????

What is happening?

 For years I had been begging Yitz to go on a disney cruise. Throughout the years, EVERY SINGLE TIME we passed a model of the disney cruise I would get on my knees and beg him to go on a cruise (and he'd snap a picture). Even the night before we were going on the actual cruise, I did the same pose by the model ship--- because how could I not?

Pretty please??? (The night before the cruise)

And finally- to celebrate our 20th anniversary my dream was finally coming true. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!!!

And that brings us to 2017. Josh is back at college. I gave Mikey some advance notice. How?
By now I know the kid knows me.
So.... Coby has to have a weekly dose of pistachios and nutella.
His blood had tested positive for an allergy to pistachios and an allergy to hazelnuts. Our doctor was hopeful that these were fake positives and had Coby do food challenges on them both. He passed! In order to keep the allergy away Coby has to have both things at least weekly. So I bought a snack/travel size bag of pistachios and Nutella. I showed them to Mikey, looked him in the eye.... and BOOM Mikey knew exactly what it was for.
"We're going to Disney!!!!"

Because my friends, one is never too old for Disney!

Meanwhile I have about a half hour now until Coby gets home and we head up to Suffern for our next updose! Wish us luck! Last updose for two weeks. Hee hee!!!!

BLOGGER BOY!

Here we are nearly three months into our OIT journey and Coby continues to be as eager as ever. He cheers himself on, happily takes his dose and I will find random doodles about it around the house such as:

"Adventure OIT jerney"

OIT is an exciting adventure to my kid who faces each dose with wide innocent eyes and excitement in his heart as he imagines the world that will be open to him if OIT is successful.

 Coby even decided to start his own blog and within two days of starting (and two entries) he had over A THOUSAND views! 

When he expressed interest in starting a blog and I thought it would be interesting to hear his perspective 'out of the mouth of babes' and see it through his eyes. (He knows I write a blog about it but hasn't read it.)

When Coby was trying to figure out what to name his blog, at first he was considering calling it what (he thought) OIT stands for: ORGAN-AL INITIAL THERAPIST. Too cute... After further brainstorming he figured out a great name and proceeded to write and publish his first post. He asked me to share it on my facebook page for friends and family.

Coby then wanted to take it a step further--- he asked that I share it on the OIT group page. (I have not shared mine there since I talk about Jewish stuff sometimes and that may be confusing to the general OIT public AND since some of Coby's nurses are on that page I didn't want to hurt their feelings when I express my fears).

Well, Coby became an overnight success. People began commenting and reaching out to him telling him how brave he is and how helpful his blog is when they share it with their children who were just beginning their OIT process. Other kids reached out to him saying that he is helping them in their paths and they can't wait to read more.

People encouraged him on with, "GO COBY GO!" to which he responded, "I am going to keep on going all the way to the end of OIT!"

I am so lucky Coby is so eagerly engaged in this journey because I'm reading that children who start this a bit later (tweens/teens) have true anxiety about it and many cannot overcome their fears in order to give it a try.

An adventure, a 'jerney'

Every few hours Coby asks me how many 'hits' his blog now has and gasps as he hears the numbers continue to climb! The OIT group even put him on twitter (with permission) and call him BLOGGER BOY! 

Meanwhile it's still our new normal of regular day to day stuff . School. Carpools. Dosing. Watching. Observing. Recording 'symptoms' (still random eye rubs, itchiness, stuffiness and lip swipes)

As his dose continues to climb I am filled with such excitement, fear, terror and hope. I know he is approaching another threshold where reactions become more likely. For some reason, many kids have some difficulties getting over the hump of certain doses and I'm nervous as we approach those numbers. We no longer are talking a microscopic speck smaller than a grain of sand, we are talking real numbers here.  IYH this Thursday if all is well, we will be updosing to 1/18th of a peanut. How is that even possible????!!!!!!!

Once again I was reminded about why this is a 'must do' for us. What is this reminder? What I now consider, 'white noise'. Yes, I'm still reading, (nearly daily), about kids having anaphylactic reactions to something seemingly innocent. In a way this has almost become white noise to me. It's expected. It shouldn't be---- but it is. The fact is there is NO WAY I would be able to keep my child safe 100% of the time. NO WAY IN HELL! It's sad, but it's true. Case-in-point: A simple can of corn. A can of corn schools or restaurants or camps may barely glance at before serving it to their children. I mean for G-d's sake, it's only corn!!!!

"May contain traces of peanuts."

Yep folks, that is a can of corn. Peanuts aint just in string beans anymore... And I'm not being facetious here- I've seen this on canned string beans and now I am seeing it on corn. It can be EVERYWHERE! Why do OIT? THIS:

An adventure, a 'jerney', and so he will soldier on...

My Coby bear is on an adventure! I, his mom is on a mission! One thing is for sure---- the both of us have real kojones!

And if you haven't yet read Coby's blog (two entries so far)- feel free to catch it at: http://cobyscourageousquest.blogspot.com/

(the most recent post is on the top and you scroll down to get the one before that.)

ANOTHER UPDOSE DAY!

This morning Coby woke up and put on his new skechers and said, "I FEEL EMPOWERED TODAY!" Atta boy! You got this! My kid, thank G-d does have a healthy sense of self as evidenced by one of his spelling sentences this week (#7):

'I succeed in most of the things I do."

You got it cutie, Believe and you shall Achieve!!!!

In fact at our appointment today I 'passed Coby a note' (on my phone) which read, "you are my hero." He responded, 

I am brave

                                                                     I am strong 

I am cool

I am handsome 

I am cute

I am a boy

I am sweet 

I am pretty 

I am proud 

I am beautiful 

I am polite 

I am positive 

My name is Coby 

I love that kid with his amazing sense of self-worth!!!!

At Coby's pre-check to determine if he was okay to updose, he noticed a bag of peanuts from across the room and his immediate response was to shrink back in fear.


I reminded him, "Coby we are doing this with the goal being you eating this- you won't have to be afraid!"

They gave him the okay to updose and he was ready! Seven weeks straight of updosing!!!!!

Don't stop won't stop!

They doubled his dose and he updosed to 10 milligrams--- the equivalent of somewhere between 1/25th and 1/30th a peanut! 

Down the hatch!

And the hour of observation began. Same ol' same ol (mostly), talking, playing on the phone, boredom, fits of laughter, 20 minute nurse checks of peak flow (he actually hit his all time high of 220!), pulse, blood oxygen level etc etc. 

He hates this part- 'wearing' the pulse & oxygen monitor

Was it peanut juice or giggle juice?

At one point Coby began complaining of a stuffy nose and his little nose was giving off a 'whistley' sound as he inhaled, so they called the doctor for a more in depth check which she did. (It's always a bit nerve wracking when a couple of extra people come running in and completely close the 'hospital type curtain' between patients to get more privacy.)  She checked his nose, throat, his heart, listened to him breathe.... and thankfully it was just a fluke and he was okay (though she did say to keep him on the nose drops twice a day for a few more days before going back down to once a day.) Once the hour was up and the doctor rechecked him, he was declared as PASSED!!!! WOOT!!!!!

Our of curiosity I asked her, "I know waaaaaay down the road he gets cleared to eat items that may be cross contaminated- but I was wondering at what point do I not have to fear 'airborne' reactions as much anymore?" She told me that there is no clear cut answer to that, but being that he is getting up to a substantial fraction of a peanut- it is quite possible he would already no longer react to airborne! But she added, "DO NOT TEST IT OUT YET THOUGH!" She told me by the time he gets to the peanut flour capsules he should definitely be safe from an airborne reaction!

"How long until he gets to the capsules?"

"Six more updoses and then we switch from liquid from to capsules."

She also told me that for a while now they will not be 'double dosing' at each updose as they had been. I was afraid to ask why since I had read on the facebook OIT group that there are certain updose levels that kids are more prone to reactions. I am assuming it may be due to that but didn't want to hear her say it. On her own she did say that if they were to 'double up' the next few doses it would be "too big of a jump." And so I didn't ask her to elaborate. I was afraid of what I would hear.

So IYH if all goes well this week next week's updose will be going from 10mg to 15mg (which would be about 1/18th of a peanut).

But for now I am celebrating today's successful updose. (where Coby was able to updose, the weather was amenable for the drive, getting there on time, and me having memorized how to get home so I didn't have a panic attack when Ms. Waze crapped out on me!) Yep, another updose under our belt- and one step closer to our goal!

My kiddo is a true brave warrior and he knows it!

One quick sidebar---- OIT was featured on GOOD DAY NEW YORK earlier this week! The woman who was discussing it is a patient of Dr. Selter's too. It was exciting recognizing the office and nurses in the video. OIT getting publicity. Hurrah! They discussed the possibilities of helping ward off peanut allergies if infants are fed peanuts (IF THERE ARE NO WARNING SIGNS ALREADY (LIKE COBY HAD)- IF THERE ARE WARNING SIGNS DO NOT DO IT WITHOUT A DOCTOR!!!  The doctor in the video discussing peanuts in infancy was NOT from that office.)  

They also discussed the success and hopes of OIT and and the younger you are, the more chance of success!

The news reporter/interviewer himself seemed a bit lost and confused but our OIT fellow patient and near graduate did good!

If any of you are interested in seeing the video the link is: http://www.fox5ny.com/good-day/228481362-video