92 days ago, Calista sat in Dr. Wasserman's office with the tiniest fraction of a peanut in a liquid solution. After a few doses, her tongue was itchy. That was quickly remedied by swishing around some water and washing the peanut down completely.
Today, she ate 3 WHOLE peanuts. This evening, I was able to give her the dose as 5 peanut M&Ms. M&Ms might be contaminated with almonds, so kids who are allergic to almonds aren't given this choice.
Desensitization works and it is well worth all of our effort. My girl is safer today than she was 3 short months ago and our family is blessed to have access to a doctor who is willing and able to treat her. To the many doctors who simply told us to avoid nuts, that her next exposure would be life-threatening and to always be prepared with life-saving medication...1-peanuts are EVERYWHERE...in foods (obviously), makeup, lotion, fertilizer, seed packets, etc. 2. Living life in a constant state of fear, high alert and concern about the unseen threats that peanut residue would pose...well, that isn't really the sort of life I'd wish on anyone. And now I'm thankful that my daughter won't know that life. She will be safer. She won't have to worry about the residue on the water fountain. She won't have to worry about the door handles or playground equipment or so many other objects. My hope is that more doctors begin offering this amazing life-changing treatment!
I needed to read this today. It has been a tough day. We are only on day 32 but my daughter has been breaking out all day long and I was wondering again if this is all worth it! Thanks for the motivation to keep going! Congratulations on making it so far and thank you for sharing your story.
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