On September 23, 2016, our family of 4 got in our car and drove two hours to Cincinnati, OH. We were meeting with an allergist who performed OIT. I learned about OIT probably two years prior, and I was instantly like, "Nope. Not doing that to my kid." After joining the OIT FB pages, I would see success story after success story so I was intrigued. BUT I would also see the failed attempts, the anaphylactic reactions, ER visits, etc. that families were going through. I talked to Kyzer about it, and he also was like, "Nope. Not doing that."
I kept up with the FB pages, though. Stayed in the OIT community as a lurker. I would get these glimmer of hopes for Kyzer's future. Could HE maybe, just maybe, be one of the success stories?
Living with a life-threatening food allergy is stressful. A person eats multiple times a day. EVERY day. Every single time you put something in your mouth, you have to know 100% that it's not going to kill you. That's extremely hard to do. It really causes anxiety. Add in not being able to TOUCH your allergen or anything that your allergen has touched, GREATLY increases your anxiety.
Home is Kyzer's safe place, the only place he does not have to worry. Once he leaves our house, his guard and all of our guards go up looking for potential hazards for him. Understandably, anxiety is common for those living with food allergy. I hate seeing him suffer from it. Back in September, I woke up from a dead sleep with a voice clear as day saying, "Do OIT." Was it God? My self-conscience? I don't know, but I tried to ignore it at first, but then it kept coming back into my mind. So I allowed myself to think about the possibility of it really working for him. The thought of being able to eat anything is one great thing, but the living without fear is everything! I talked with Kyzer and Tom (my husband) that day about the possibility of Kyzer doing OIT. They both were like, "Let's do it." Kyzer was 100% on board this time.
So I called THAT day and made an appointment to see the allergist in Cincinnati. His name is Dr. Justin Greiwe, and he is at Bernstein Allergy Group. (NO allergist in our big 'ole city of Columbus performs OIT. Only 70 allergists in the country perform OIT, but that number is increasing all the time).
So on September 23rd, we found ourselves in his office chatting with him about OIT. I had handwritten a page (front and back !) of questions about OIT. He answered all of them. He said it appeared Kyzer was a good candidate to do it, but he needed to do a blood test, skin test, and possibly a tree nut challenge. I left there that day feeling uneasy. I thought, "We'll do all these tests, but I don't think I can let him do OIT."
When we arrived back in Columbus that day, we stopped at the Children's Close to Home Center so he could get his blood drawn. Then we were to wait two weeks for those results.
In the pictures below, he has a mask on his face because he had a cold/asthma cough so the medical facility where he had his blood work done required him to wear a mask. See the blue pouch across his chest? Those are his epi-pens that he carries everywhere he goes.
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