BORING IS GOOD!!!!

Wow, it's been forever since I blogged, which must mean only one thing--- our OIT life as of late has basically been boring.

3 CHEERS FOR BORING!

Coby has been enjoying his post OIT life. I mean, how could he not?

-He has been able to go on all the camp overnights with no worries.

At Camp Getaway. He also went camping at Hershey and Lake George.

-He went to a friend's simcha with no worries and really hit the jackpot there!

loading up from the yummy buffet

He literally chased down the ice-cream bar table as the waiters wheeled it out

Yum, dessert table

He just couldn't get enough

-He was able to go to a potluck Shabbaton with no worries. It was a great time!

-He was able to eat whatever he wanted at the collation after Mikey's graduation.

-He has been able to go out to eat with no worries.

Teaneck Dog-House on Father's Day

-He went to Hershey Park (with his camp) for the first time since completing OIT and after that 'singing cows chocolate ride' he was able to eat the unsafe chocolate they handed out at the end of the ride. SCORE! He was also able to eat Dippin' Dots there, which had not been safe for him in the past.

front row, green hat on the right is our Cobester

- He has eaten at bakeries that otherwise would have been un-safe.

-And of course- ice cream!

What a blessing.
Food.
Friends.
Freedom.
Inclusion.
Safety.

Though truth be told, there are always some hills to climb during this journey. We've had some trials and tribulations. One morning Coby got off the couch and every part of his exposed body was speckled. His arms, his cheeks and his ears and neck.

I didn't completely freak out (yay me!) since I knew Coby hadn't actually eaten anything at all by that point, though we did call the allergist. We gave him some medication that cleared it up--- and then we figured out what caused it. We had had several teenagers in our home 2 nights earlier. They hung out in the den. They had left, but they left behind an intense fragrance. Some concoction of deodorants, body washes, lotions etc. That morning was Coby's first time in the den since all the teens had been there. In fact it was a full 36 hours later. Their lotions must have really clung to our couch fibers because just by sitting there for a few minutes Coby's sensitive body was not happy.
BUT thank G-d it was not a food reaction.
Can't blame everything on those peanuts!

Another day Coby had to have 5 baby teeth pulled. As if that's not traumatic enough, we had to call his allergist to see if we should have them all pulled at the same time or space it out. How would we be able to dose him if all of them were pulled at the same time? How would he chew up those peanuts? Exposed and bleeding gums mixed in with an allergen can cause a reaction. A body that has been through anything traumatic together with its allergen can cause a reaction. Our allergist advised us to just have them pulled all at once and to skip a couple of days of dosing. We were then to spend the next week building back up to Coby's maintenance dose. Thank G-d we had no issues and it all went smoothly. And yes, the tooth-fairy was extra generous that night.

My poor baby

Coby also went back to the doctor for his twice yearly allergy testing.

Coby's reaction, while positive was down to a 5x17 measurement! Before Coby began OIT they were only able to test him with 1% of the full dose and back then his number was 12x32. We've come a long way baby! Way to go Coby. Our allergist told us that Coby probably will never get a negative result, but we are still moving in the right direction. He also said we can try not having apple-sauce anymore after his dosings--- and we have done that for the last few days and had no problems! Woot!

We also asked the doctor if we should put him back on the peanut butter powder dosing as well, and the doctor told us it was not worth it. Coby was having way too many reactions from that that it just wasn't worth it unless and until Coby wants to have complete free eating to begin scarfing down peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (Yeah, right...) This does mean that while Coby can mostly free eat- we still have to be wary about actual peanut butter. We recently actually called a couple of restaurants we have been eating at to find out that peanut butter is in some of their items. Pre OIT we wouldn't have even been able to step foot in the restaurant. Now, post OIT but not dosing with PB2 powder, we are able to eat in those restaurants but cannot eat the items with actual peanut butter in them. A bit of a step backwards, but not a complete fall. So while it's a bit disheartening, we are okay with that.

So his skin test has once again improved...

And after the blood test- well deserved
and now safe ice-cream

....But with skin testing, come blood tests.

My trooper

We got those blood results back and learned that now Coby's thyroid is fine.
However, despite being on a vitamin D supplement, for some reason his vitamin D levels are even lower than they were last time, so we were told to  increase it by 150%.

And lastly his peanut numbers...
They tested five different components, but it is the first two that is the most important.

H1 before beginning OIT was 41. Six months ago it was 20. And now.... it is 10.6!!!!!!
H2 before beginning OIT was 41.6. Six months ago it was 19.5. And now... it is 11.3!!!!

Yowzers!!! While those numbers still indicate a severe allergy, Coby's class of allergy has gone from a CLASS V allergy, down to a CLASS IV!!!!

So yeah, we may have had to take a couple of steps back in some aspects... but today compared to where we were less than 3 years ago is un-freaking-believable.

It has now been 2 years since graduation. He had just turned 9 when he graduated and this week our little warrior has turned 11! Where does the time go?

Wishing our Cobester a year of health, happiness, love, safety, freedom, friends and lots and lots of ice-cream.... After all, we are still making up for lost time.