ET PHONE HOME- COBY DOES NOT SHARE YOUR LOVE FOR REESES PIECES

Yay- it was another boring week of OIT! Each time I watch him eat his poison it is soooo surreal. I mean, Coby's original allergy plan stated that if Coby were to eat his allergen we weren't even supposed to wait for the first sign of a reaction- we were supposed to epi him right away. Yet now he has eaten his allergen 206 times since beginning this journey back in October and we never once used his epipen. CRAZY!

And today was the moment.  The moment to surpass the amount that gave him his life threatening reaction when he was two and a half.
Since he had been hating that peanut taste this week we decided to give Reeses Pieces a try!      
                                                                YAY AND YIKES!

I was pretty calm once we were on our way, or so I thought... my left eye began twitching and continued to twitch for over an hour. Eye-twitching is a sign of anxiety- but that hadn't happened to me in a loooong time. I guess having your child eat more than the amount that tried to kill him, was reason enough for a twitchy eye.

In the waiting room a lady came up to him showing him a picture of Coby on twitter. It was one of his OIT pix from a few weeks back. (I had given them permission to use his pictures.) He was so excited! "Mom, I'm famous!"

Meanwhile, I was still not 100% sure he'd be allowed to up-dose since he's been a bit sneezy and snotty the last couple of days. When the nurse weighed him she asked him how his week went and he decided to answer her in Hebrew, and only in Hebrew. He just didn't want to speak English. I mean, I know it's up near Monsey and they have a whole bunch of very frum patients, but this nurse wasn't Jewish. 

"I don't understand a word you are saying Coby."

My little silly-billy. So I translated for him.

They told us they needed to put us in a separate room because the OIT room was still full due to an 'incident'. 

Gulp- that's just what I needed to hear moments before he eats THE amount that tried to take him down last time. (The OIT room is kind of set up like an emergency room triage. Four sections separated by those ER type curtains so the nurses can check in on everyone at once every few minutes instead of having to run from room to room.

In the room they had us waiting in, Coby was getting excited about trying those Reese's! 

As were waiting he called me over to him and began rubbing my shoulders,
"Here, I'll give you a massage. Get prepared!!!"
"Huh?"
"Well, you're about to up-dose too!"

 Haha- well the massage felt nice! When they brought us to the proper space, the doctor came in to check his peak flow, blood oxygen and check him out. She said the stuffiness in his nose looks like it's due to environmental allergies. I told her that every day he goes out for recess, as soon as he gets home he showers and I wash all his clothes including his jacket, and since he doesn't have time to shower on Thursdays between school and the up-dose appointment we have him stay inside for recess. She said we are doing everything right but we should double his flonaze for the next few days (don't want to tip that allergy bucket!) but otherwise he's good to up-dose!

She took the box of Reese's to count out eight and told him, "You'll like it- it's sweet." To which he responded, "Just like my mom." Awwwww. Melt me now!

Spoiler alert- when he actually ate that first one practically gagging on it and could not handle eating seven more he said, "Mom, this is nowhere near as sweet as you." Say it with me now, "Awwwwww!"

Anyway before Coby dosed he asked her if he is allowed to touch the Reese's (he's still not allowed to touch his peanut doses). She told him he could touch it- I guess because it is surrounded by the candy, though she did tell him not to rub his eyes after touching it.

Then it was time..... THE MOMENT.

 And now for some freeze frames:

Contemplating....

Gag and Uch!

The moment of truth

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS:

And so he did not want to eat even one more, let alone the remaining seven. So it was back to actual peanuts. The doctor gave him one and a half peanuts, with a bit cut off one of the halves (since he did eat 1 reese's) and he chugged it back. 

And then he said, "Hmmmm, not so bad!" HUH?! He had been complaining about the taste of peanut every single dose for the last two weeks- but I guess in comparison to the reese's--- it's not so bad after all!

He reminded me that I had to dose too- as I've been doing it with him every day for the last week since he requested me to. The first two or three days after my 'dosing' I thought I was having a 'reaction' to the peanut and felt a little itchy but that subsided after three days. Pheeew. I guess it was my own anxiety manifesting itself physically. 

The mind is a powerful thing indeed!

So I chugged down those 8 reese's pieces. Well, I already knew that I liked the taste ;). I had missed them. Cannot remember the last time I had one. I had thought my mind would keep quiet since the last four days I had no problem eating my peanut 'dose'. But wouldn't you know it, 15 minutes later my throat started to itch as did my eye (which was no longer twitching). I chugged down some water, but I guess here we go again. Who knows maybe part of me does have to get used to peanut again since I've avoided it so long so maybe I'm building up too without having the true allergy, or my mind just loves to make me crazy every chance it gets!

Coby is no longer is so shy with the staff there, so when the doctor rechecked him when the hour was up, he started questioning her about peanut butter. He told her he thinks he's going to like eating that the most. (Um Coby, reese's pieces is a candy filled with peanut butter- but I didn't have the heart to tell him. After all he still has to eat every form of peanut first at the doctor's office successfully before being allowed to try it at home.) So IYH in two weeks, he will be trying flavored peanut butter. He wants to try the honey flavored one as well as the chocolate one, even though he doesn't really like chocolate. For next week- the plan is peanut m & ms!!!!!

The doctor told us that if by some reason Coby were to decide he'd rather dose with Reese's pieces at home, he was now free to do so!!!! Yeah that is so not going to happen, but it's nice to know we have more options now! It's a very freeing feeling. I truly feel that door to the world beginning to creak open.

She told us that when he gets to 6 peanuts she will begin clearing him to eat more things and when IYH he graduates at 12 peanuts--- at that point he will be able to eat anything up to the point of his daily dose of 12 peanuts (like ice- cream cake!!!!)

But once he goes for his 24 peanut challenge, and IYH passes- he will be allowed to eat whatever his little heart desires!!! This is known as 'free eating'. Yes he still will have to have his daily dose and manage environmental allergies at times, and down-dose during illnesses and make sure not to exercise after eating anything that is equal to his 12 peanut dose, but that door to the world will basically be fully open to him!!!

On the way home Coby again was telling me how tired he was, which makes sense, considering the work-out his body is getting, but the child isn't supposed to sleep within two hours of dosing. So I kept the conversation going for the entire ride home to make sure he stayed awake. By the time we got home he had his second wind. Pheeeew!

And so the only 'issue' we had during this appointment was that I had the wrong thing printed up on his sign for today. It originally said he ate 8 Reese's pieces--- but since that didn't happen, I had to change it. I crossed out the '8', changed it to '1' and added '& 1 and a half peanuts.'. I also crossed out the '8 reese's pieces is equivalent to one and a half peanuts.'

I AM NOW PAST THE POINT THAT CAUSED MY BIG REACTION

It really is nothing short of a miracle!

I am in awe of Coby's optimism and bravery and I am so thankful that today went so well. We really have come so far.

As we were getting back into our car we saw what we think was.... a turkey?! He walked right by our car and onto the grass.

I've never seen one of those walking around in civilization like that. We've been living here in the suburbs for nearly 16 years now and we've seen deer, ground-hogs, chipmunks and bunnies. But we had never seen a turkey before! This was soooo weird.

"Is it Thanksgiving mom?" 

You know what Coby, maybe it is. Maybe it is.