I honestly amazed myself for not cancelling the appointment.
Why did I not cancel the appointment? Because Kyzer desperately wanted to find out if he truly was allergic to tree nuts. Do you know how much courage it takes to willingly put something in your mouth that you have been told all your life could cause you serious harm? LOTS of courage! He was so excited, and I couldn't take that away from him. It's not that I didn't want to know the answer too.....it's just that I know too much. I'm a very active member of the online allergy community. I read so much. I see so much. I knew that my boys could leave the allergist's office in an ambulance. I knew they could require multiple doses of epinephrine. I knew that if they suffered an allergic reaction that it could traumatize them. Kyzer already suffers from allergy anxiety so I was worried it would make it worse.
The closer the appointment date came, the calmer I got. I was still nervous, but I knew we were doing the right thing. I put my faith in God and my trust in the allergist and the nurses. To help with my anxiety, I decided that we would stay in a hotel in Cincinnati near the children's hospital the night of the challenge. I didn't want to risk the boys having a delayed reaction on the 2-hour car ride home. There is basically nothing between Cincinnati and Columbus. Plus, I knew we would be leaving the allergist office around rush hour traffic. I didn't want to be stuck in traffic anywhere. Also, Hendrick was terrified of doing the nut challenge so being able to give him something to look forward to.....POOL IN THE HOTEL!....helped him tremendously! They both love staying in hotels so it was a fun treat.
I packed like we were going away for at least a week. So.much.stuff. Mostly food! I knew we would be at the allergist's office all day so we would need lunch and snacks, but the boys also would need things to eat while they were eating the peanuts and tree nuts. Thankfully, there was a microwave there so we could heat up lunch (leftover spaghetti).
It was INSANELY weird to buy these items for the challenges!
(You bring your own items to the doctor's office.
We, however, could not find any walnuts in the shells or
walnuts not cross-contaminated with peanuts,
but the allergist's office had some we could use).
Poor Hendrick.
He was terrified before the challenges.
Kyzer was super pumped!!
They have two tables kinda out in the hallway across from the nurse's station.
That's where you do any type of testing....skin/food challenges/OIT.
They had their heart rate and blood pressure
checked before starting the challenges.
They played games together while they waited.
This was his third dose of almond!!
A whole almond!!
The first dose was a 1/4 almond.
Second dose was 1/2 almond.
Third dose was 1 almond.
Fourth dose was FOUR almonds!!
After he successfully ate his first 2 doses of almonds,
his fear subsided!
FOUR almonds down!!!
We were so excited and hopeful at this point!!
You can see the nurse's station in the background.
FOUR almonds down!!!
(Tom didn't take the day off of work.
He just brought his work with him)
Moving onto walnuts!
Hendrick HATED walnuts.
Like HATED HATED them.
I was super impressed he got the first dose down.
The allergist decided not to torture him with them,
declared he passed after just the first dose,
and let him move onto dosing peanut butter.
Kyzer was NOT a fan of walnuts either,
but he was able to get them all down.
He SOOOOO wanted to pass!
This is how he ended up taking the 3rd and 4th dose of walnuts....
in vanilla pudding.
I didn't get any pictures of Hendrick challenging the peanut butter or Nutella or pictures of Kyzer challenging the Nutella....but they passed!!!! Hendrick was not a fan of peanut butter, but thankfully I brought graham crackers and chocolate chips to go with it. Kyzer LOVED LOVED the Nutella! He ate it on graham crackers.
Here was their reward!!
HOTEL POOL!!!
We also scored major 'Cool Parent Points' because our hotel was in walking distance of the restaurant 'French Fry Heaven'. Hendrick's most favorite food in the world is french fries! He would eat them for all 3 meals plus snacks every day! Of course that's where we took them for dinner! One of Kyzer's favorite food was served there too...fried chicken! (Tom and I opted to eat our dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant that was also in walking distance to the hotel).
We had a great, fun, cozy night in the hotel.
The boys swam in the pool.
We popped popcorn, and watched the next episode of "A Series of Unfortunate Events". We all slept great too.
We were all so happy and relieved!!
We knew our world had changed that day!!
Here's Kyzer the next morning drinking hot chocolate.
We made it through the night with no delayed reactions!!
BREAKDOWN OF COST
Everyone's cost will be different. It's all based on your insurance plan and your deductibles. Food challenges are timed tests. You don't know how long you will be there until the day is over. You could react on the first dose, and then that would end your test. Or you could keep passing each item you are challenging, and be there 6 hours like we were. Here is what we will have to pay.
First 120 minutes of testing = $104.78
Each additional hour = $73.83
X2 since we had two children doing the testing
Testing took 6 hours.
TOTAL COST = $800 (out of our empty pockets)
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