Doubling up
getting on with your routine
Soooo... you've been starting to feel comfortable with your daily OIT regime. Obviously to begin with I was insisting my daughter consume a seven course meal before even sniffing her dose (Must line the stomach! Must line the stomach!) but thankfully I outgrew that phase. Took me about two weeks.
She and I settled into what works for us: a decent snack, with dose on the side, served up each day after school. For us that kind of thing is a yoghurt and biscuit, apple and crisps, cheese string and muffin. You get the idea.
Personally, I weigh out Abi's doses in advance and bag them up so that, at 4pm each day, she simply goes to her 'dose bag' and helps herself. Yes, I have an alarm set on my phone for 4pm each day. Yes, I need to remind her even though she's 14. No, we are NOT going to forget a dose!
Everything was going swimmingly and before we knew it, we'd completed one month of pistachio. Hang on a minute - the clinic told us to up-dose after month one. Oh. Is it that time already?
The clinic told us to up-dose after month one. Oh. Is it that time already?
next stop: double dose
Upping an OIT dose is, let's be honest, scary. Doing it at home as the only adult is, let's be honest, scary. Yet - as I'm discovering - it is also most definitely doable.
Abi has been able to take both her peanut and pistachio doses together ever since week two; we are very lucky like that. She suggested that she delay her peanut dose by two hours on the up-dose day. Sensible kid! Why hadn't I thought of that?
I painstakingly weighed out the new dose (she was moving from a quarter of a pistachio to a half) and gave her the dose with a more substantial snack than normal. Instantly she had swelling in her throat. Once again, I stood in my kitchen pretending not to be watching her (an art form we excel at); I was doing my best impression of 'Oh this is SUCH an ordinary day, how very AVERAGE things are at the moment'. Calm nonchalance, while hyperventilating on the inside.
You see, any allergic parent will know: the problem with severe allergy is that you never know how or when the allergic reaction is going to peak. Is the swelling in the throat today's peak? Might it include a little wheeze? Or is this the immune system stretching its legs, getting ready for a grand entrance? No wonder my heart stays in my mouth for some time afterwards.
Is the swelling in the throat today's peak? Might it include a little wheeze? Or is this the immune system stretching its legs, getting ready for a grand entrance?
We have now up-dosed five times in total - three for peanut, two for pistachio. Each time Abi gets a swollen or 'lumpy' throat (which lasts anything from 8 minutes to an hour: I have a log) but - I'm very glad to report - nothing more beyond that has ever happened. No wheeze, no oedema, no tummy effects. I know this doesn't give me any guarantee for next time, nor the time after that, nor the time after that... but it does give me a response pattern to work with, and a sense of predictability to anchor some optimism to.
Will my heart be in my mouth next time? Yes.
Will we separate out the doses again next time? Yes.
Am I glad we're on this path? YES.
Is my child an inspirational superstar? YES!
And is her mother a brave soldier, trying to do the right thing for her beloved daughter, tripping, and learning, and getting back up again? Well. I think it's time to say. Yes.
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