Zachary's Pre-OIT Appointment for Eggs

Today we met with Dr. Jones' medical assistant, Jennifer Bunker to discuss Zachary's next round of OIT treatments. It was mostly an informational meeting with a quick physical to check that Zachary is healthy and ready for Day One of Egg OIT on January 8th.

I was a little nervous because Zachary had a reaction at school yesterday. Just as the day was about to begin, Zachary knocked on my office door with red eyes and tears pouring down his face. I immediately thought he was hurt, but as I opened my office door and heard the sneezing, I knew that he was struggling with a reaction. I gave him 10ml of Zyrtec and whisked him off to the Sick Room in the Main Office.

Within minutes, Zachary's face began to swell as welts developed around his eyes, on his forehead, behind his ears, and on his neck. Before we know it, his right eye was swollen shut and he started to have a bit of a wheeze when he inhaled and exhaled.

After monitoring him for about an hour and a half, I decided that the reaction was passing and not progressing, so I sent him home to rest with my Dad. We are forever grateful to Papa for his willingness to step in and help us out at a moments notice.

I am so grateful that my little man is doing okay and that we were able to get him his medicine so quickly. I feel so blessed to be able to work at my children's school. I love that I am so close and that my kids can run to me in their times of need. I appreciate all the love and concern that each of my co-workers showed towards Zachary and Me. Although it was scary, I felt my Savior's love through this entire ordeal and I am so grateful to know that no matter what, families can be together forever!

Back to today's appointment...

Fortunately, Zachary passed the physical with flying colors and he will be able to begin next week. Jen feels that Zachary's reaction was due to being overheated within an hour of taking his morning milk dose. I am thankful that this recent reaction did not derail our plans to begin OIT again. We have been waiting for a little over a year and are extremely grateful to be able to begin again!

Now we begin preparations and say our prayers that things will go smoothly on Tuesday!

OIT Updose Appointment #14--Dairy

Today, Zachary had another successful up-dose appointment. He was able to up-dose from 10ml of whole milk to 15ml of whole milk. There was a little moment of hesitation when Zachary saw the nurse with 2 syringes full of milk...but after a snuggle from mom and a little pep talk...he swallowed the entire dose in an instant. I am so proud of my little man. He continually amazes me and gives new life to the words "I can do hard things". I don't know anything harder than looking at a syringe full of "potential death" and willingly swallowing it each and every day!

Zachary is the bravest boy I know!

Rocky Mountain Allergy Seminar

For the past year or so, we have been hearing about a new treatment option for food allergies. I have been a little hesitant to try it since it is so new and only one allergist, Dr. Douglas Jones, in Utah is currently offering this treatment option. At the end of January, this allergist opened a new location in Murray, Utah which is about 20 minutes from our home. When I discovered his new location, and found out that Dr. Jones was just recently added to our insurance plan, I decided to check it out.

Matt and I attended a seminar with Dr. Jones tonight. He discussed his revolutionary treatment and how it works. There were also a few "graduates" and their families there to discuss their experience and how their lives have been changed.

Dr. Jones began his career as an Allergist and always hated the times he would have to face a family and diagnose a food allergy. The standard protocol was to give the family a list of ingredients to avoid and a prescription for an Epi-Pen. He would then send them into the world with a "hope" that nothing bad would happen. During the seminar he discussed how he hated these conversations and felt so bad that there were no other options. As he began researching more, he took the idea of vaccines and of environmental allergy shots and began experimenting to see if there was something more that he could do. For 8 long years he researched and studied. Then in 2011 he launched the Oral Immunotherapy treatment plan with his patients. It has had unprecedented success!

Oral Immunotherapy Treatment (OIT) is a treatment in which the allergic patient is fed the allergen in a very diluted amount in a control environment. For example, the first dose amount for a person allergic to peanuts is 1/250,000 of a peanut. As each dose is tolerated, the dosage amount is increased until the patient is able to eat 24 peanuts a day. This may take anywhere from a few months to a couple of year to desensitize to the allergen. Once you reach what Dr. Jones calls your maintenance dose, the patient will need to consume the maintenance dose of the allergen every day for the rest of their lives. If they do so, they are able to eat unlimited amounts of the allergen as often as they would like. Sounds to good to be true, right!

Well it is not. After Dr. Jones presentation was over, we heard from many patients and their families. As we heard story after story of success and gratitude, my eyes were filled with tears. We heard the story of a 10-year old boy who was allergic to 24 foods. His story was so similar to Zachary's and his little personality reminded me of Zachary too. He now can eat all of the foods he once had to completely avoid. His eyes lit up as he talked about all of the food that he can now eat and how he doesn't need to fear food anymore. I cannot image what a weight has been lifted off of his little shoulders. It made me long for the day that we could share all of our favorite foods with Zachary. Next we heard from a 18-year old boy that was allergic to peanuts. He graduated from the OIT program in December and feels so much better about being out with friends and dating. Then we heard from a young girl who recently attended a friends birthday party for first time. In the past her friends would tell her, "My mom won't let me invite you to my party because she doesn't want to worry about what to feed you." We heard so many stories of how OIT has changed peoples lives.

After the seminar, we were able to mingle with the families and with Dr. Jones. Matt and I are extremely interested in getting Zachary started with this treatment. We are encouraged by all of the success and hope to be able to share our success story in the future.

We are currently on the wait list for the Oral Immunotherapy Program. We are looking at around 8 to 10 months before we will be able to begin. While we are a little sad to have to wait, we are grateful for the time to do more research and to prepare Zachary for what is to come. While we wait, we plan on starting immunotherapy treatments for Zachary's environmental allergies. Dr. Jones feels that if we can eliminate Zachary's environmental allergies, he will be able to work through the food allergy treatments a lot quicker and with less reactions.

I am so grateful for this new option. I am hopeful that Oral Immunotherapy Treatments will work for my little Zachary. If OIT works for us, it will not only open up so many food choices for Zachary, it will improve his quality of life and make it so we don't have to live in fear every single day.

What a blessing that would be!