Faith starts OIT for Walnuts and Pecans

For Faith, the end is in sight!  Last week we spent nine hours in the office of Dr. Mayer to begin day one of oral immunotherapy for walnuts and pecans.

The dose starts very minute and is increased each 1/2 hour throughout the day.  We have never stayed this long and in the first round of OIT we needed to stop for an itchy throat MUCH earlier.

As a result of our all day stay at Dr. Mayer's office, Faith went home with only three weeks of the liquid solution "D" and then onward to flour and actual whole nuts.  It should take approximately 14 weeks for her to reach what Dr. Mayer considers to be "bite proof".

Hunter is a few doses away from bite proof for cashew and pistachios.  We will then go through the oral challenges to determine if he is allergic to any other nuts.

Tori is done and enjoying eating whatever she chooses to eat!

My nephew Blake is working his way through oral challenges and will begin OIT in the near future as well.

We are so tremendously blessed with this opportunity.  Dr. Mayer and staff are selfless and have devoted so much time into helping people of all ages to find freedom from food allergies.

Since we started OIT last may, Dr. Mayer has graduated 100 more people through OIT for a total of 200 people completing OIT in his practice.

We thank God for Dr. Mayer's commitment and look forward to a future with freedom!

OIT Update - Celebrating the Milestones after 10 Months!

Wow! What a difference 10 months can make!

Tori is bite proof to cashews and pistachios.  She passed food challenges and is not allergic to any other nuts.

Faith is bite proof to cashews and pistachios, however she did not pass the walnut challenge, and will begin round two of OIT in April.

Hunter is three doses away from becoming bite proof to cashews and pistachios and we are hoping like Tori, he passes oral challenges for the other nuts and will be on maintenance.

Imagining a future that my kids no longer need to miss out on celebrations, summer camps and other outings seems almost too good to be true....and yet it is true!  They are talking about what it will be like to go on vacation and  be able to eat at a restaurant!  While Tori is already in this place, Faith and  Hunter are not quite there yet.

I will say overall this process has been relatively uneventful.  We are blessed to say that there have been no serious reactions.  Two challenges that we have dealt with:  1) taking time off school to get to appointments and 2) getting passed the psychological challenge of ingesting nuts after years of strict avoidance.

 We do continue to work through each issue, and have found many ways to camouflage the taste and texture of the nuts. I don't believe anyone of us would trade the victory and the future filled with freedom for the inconvenience and challenges we have encountered. If asked, we would highly recommend OIT to anyone living devastation of food allergies.

For more information as well as contact information for Dr Chad Mayer, please see his website at www.oitcenter.com.

6 Months of OIT - Celebrating the Victories!!!

First, I apologize - life is busy, and constantly changing.  With the failing health of my father and his death, I have not found the time or mental energy to write about our journey.

Thankfully, I have nothing negative to report.  We have had absolutely no real issues with OIT.

Tori is now "bite proof" for pistachios and cashews.  Faith is struggling with today's updose - 1 pistachio and 2 "tads" of cashew - Hunter moving up to the next level of pistachio/cashew flour.

The New Year will bring NEW freedom for Faith and Hunter.  They will be bite proof for pistachios and cashews and we will find out if they are allergic to other Tree nuts at that time.

Studies show that many times after desensitizing the worst nut allergy, the immune system reboots and the other allergies are gone.  Praying this is the case for Faith and Hunter🙏until then we thank GOD and celebrate the victories along the way🎉🎉🎉

I will attempt to update more often.

If you are reading this and know someone with food allergies, please know there is HOPE!  All three of our kids have experienced severe allergic reactions.  I thought OIT would be stressful and we would have setbacks.  It couldn't be going better!  For more information about OIT you can visit Dr. Chad Mayer's website  www.oitcenter.com

THERE IS HOPE!

Two Months into Oral Immunotherapy (OIT) -- ALL IS WELL!

It has officially been two months since we began OIT.

We have had no complications at all.

We started off going in every two weeks for the new "updose" however Dr. Mayer has transitioned patents to weekly updosing and it has gone well.  We now updose weekly.

During OIT we have faced challenges of fitting in doses in order to observe the minimum two hour rest period.  Sports camps, outdoor activities in the summer heat and vacations have at times provided obstacles, but we survived.

We are now to the point that all three kids have been able to spend night(s) away from home and manage their dose while gone.

This was probably one of my biggest concerns... well, one of my concerns.

The other concern was vacations and dosing.  I must have assumed we would have reactions or problems with OIT because vacations may have caused us to be creative with dosing times, but there has been no complications due to OIT.

We are happy to be facing these nut allergies head on.

Happy for a future without constant worry about what my kids will eat when away from our controlled environment.

Our major reactions happened while on vacations and away from our controlled environment.  Now that the kids are getting older, they have opportunities to travel and do field trips.  One year from now, these options may be reality.   The oldest is applying for graduate school, I am happy and hopeful that she will be through OIT when she goes away to college again.

Overall, all is going very well!  We have renewed hope for a future without constant worry.

I thank God for the wisdom of doctors to begin this food allergy treatment and especially to Dr. Mayer for shepherding us through this process.

Ready to roll! May 18 begins our journey through OIT!

XOLAIR is underway - Faith has received her third round of injections.  

OIT is back on for May 18.

We are not nervous....OK well we are nervous!  However we are so ready to begin this journey that will take us to a life filled with more freedom.

A life that will allow our children to eat food that "may contain nuts" that they are allergic to.  The goal of Oral immunotherapy for our children is to become "bite proof".  They  will likely never eat a hand full of nuts.

So this begins the countdown to OIT.

12 days
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For more information regarding OIT please visit the website of Dr. Chad Mayer

www.oitcenter.com

After Months of Silence....

Where have I been?

Why the silence?

I have spent months of dealing with the anxieties and the after math of a severe allergic reaction. Our allergist suggested Faith's immune system would reset itself after 6 to 8 weeks.

That would have been September at the latest. We are now into April and her immune system never did reset itself. Chronic hives, major anxiety and asthma flare ups became a part of our daily lives.

Our allergist recommended we try Xolair injections.  Xolair once approved for asthma is now approved for chronic hives as well.  Faith qualifies in both spectrums which translated into the insurance approving what may have taken months and months of reviews in just two short weeks.

I have leanred that Xolair was originally in development for use with food allergies when a pharmaceutical bought the rights and developed Xolair for a much bigger market "asthmatics".

The best way I believe to explain Xolair is that it has the potential to put asthma in "remission".

Faith has received Xolair for the past two months.  Three injections followed by a two hour waiting period.  The next visit two injections and a three hour wait (due to allergy concerns).  

Xolair itself can cause an anaphylactic reaction in A small percentage of 

people.

Faith's allergies and asthma are not yet under control.  Hopefully this month and the next series of injections will be the beginning of that control.

We have scheduled OIT for May 18. Our hope is that Faith's allergies and asthma are at a place where she can move forward. We have waited along time to begin this process of desensitizing food allergies. One year from today our lives could be so different, the quality of life so much better. It is our prayer that this OIT is successful for all three kids.

So the countdown begins. 

Again.

If you're reading this, please keep us in your prayers and believe with us in faith for healing.

Another vacation and a new approach to eating while out of town

A vacation to Gulfport Mississippi and a whole new way of working on avoiding food allergens. It is amazing how creative you can be when you need to cook food in a room that does not have a stove and microwave. We brought a griddle and foods that can be microwaved in the hotel microwave in the lobby.

We will be making a trip to the local grocery store to get food that can be prepared simply and easily.

Our goal is complete control over every food the kids eat to avoid another allergic reaction while on vacation.