Utah, of all places...

I'm a big believer in "Everything happens for a reason". However sometimes we don't find out what that reason is for a long time. In this case, it took four years. 4 years ago, we were living in our dream Condo in perfect West Wood, California. 45 minutes away from Disney Land, 20 minutes to the beach, 70 degree weather all year round, winter looked like fall, my husband had a very highly sought after job, life couldn't get any better. we LOVED living in Los Angeles. We had made it our home. We loved our circle of friends that had become our family. We had lived there going on 4 years, which may not seem long, but it was long for us, since we had moved a lot since we had been married (we lived in Manhattan before moving to LA) Anyway, our plan was to put our roots down in California. so when his company started an office in Salt Lake City and offered it to him to head up this new office, we were thrown for a loop. This was an amazing offer for his career, and both of our families lived in UT. But we were hesitant to leave because we were so happy where we were and hadn't planed on ever leaving. We ultimately prayed about about it and felt like it was the right choice to move to Utah.  It was a tough move, and very sad to leave our dream life. I am not a winter person, and I pouted our whole first year after moving to Utah. However, as I saw how much Kaylie loved the snow, my heart softened (a little :) and I began to accept the fact that this was now our home. At Kaylie's first updose appointment, we got to meet the other moms and kids there updosing on Thursday mornings. It was fun to meet them and hear all their peanut stories and their experience so far with OIT. The first mom I talked to told me she lived in Las Vegas and she drove over 6 hrs to get here! She makes this trek every Wednesday night, stayes over in a hotel, comes to her appointment Thursday morning, then drives back to Vegas. She does the EVERY WEEK! Wow! I couldn't believe it! Then I met Amber, and she told me she had MOVED here with her kids temporarily all the way from Hawaii just to see Dr. Jones!!! Whoa. I could not believe it. I realized Dr. Jones was one of the few Dr.'s in the world to offer this program. The next week I connected with a mom on facebook, who lives in Australia, and is moving to... yep, UTAH! To give her daughter this gift of OIT. So here I am, living in Utah, of all places, not more than a 15 minute drive to Dr Jones,  and it hits me. I'm so lucky to be here.

Surviving the first week

The first week was a bit rough to be honest. Kaylie's asthma started acting up. weather by the peanut dose, or her outdoor allergies, I'm not sure, but she struggled a lot this week, and I had to use her rescue inhaler multiple times. It scared me pretty bad, and triggered my anxiety. Her asthma is usually very mild, but because we had just started this peanut treatment, I was afraid she was going into anaphylactic shock.  I woke up every night in the middle of the night in a full blown panic attack and had to go check on her to make sure she was still breathing and alive. When I told Dr. Jones about her asthma, he immediately put her on daily asthma medication to keep it under control during this OIT process. I am praying we will get the hang of this, and things will go more smoothly for us. But we did survive our first week!

Day 1

Kaylie and I packed our bags for our 7 hour appointment to begin the oral food challenge of giving her extremely small doses of peanut flour through out the day. Not knowing exactly what to expect I was extremely nervous! The first time they gave her the first dose she stood up and announced "I just ate some peanut!" Although VERY diluted, it was a HUGE accomplishment for her and I both! We felt like we were taking that leap of faith and we survived the first dose! As the day went on, they continued to give her increased doses every 15 minutes, monitoring her very closing all day. It was a long day, and I think we played at least 40 games on UNO, of which Kaylie won 39 :) I panicked every time she sneezed or sniffled. Dr. Jones and his staff were so kind and understanding and answered all my MANY questions. I felt such an exciting energy in the room with the other moms that I met, and I felt so good to be part of such a miraculous opportunity!

"That's our Doctor!"

I never watch the news, because it's usually all negative and so depressing, but I just so happened to turn it on one evening before bed and this clip came on about a different approach to peanut allergies. I thought to myself, "Oh, it's probably the same stuff I've seen before, but I am always interesting in all things peanut allergy related so I continued watching, and all of a sudden I see Dr. Jones! And yelled for my husband to come watch and I said, "Look! This is Kaylie's allergy Doctor on the news!" so we watched this clip and we were so inspired! I felt like the time was right for us to begin this journey. I called Dr. Jones the next day. Utah doctor takes new approach to food allergies - Good4Utah.com

Is that Processed with Peanuts?

This is a question my 6 year old daughter Kaylie asks at least 20 times a day. Anytime anyone anywhere offers her a treat, snack or even a drink she knows that this question could save her life. The slightest cross contamination that could occur from being processed with peanuts could cause Kaylie to go into anaphylactic shock closing off her airways. We first founds out she was allergic when she was one and we lived in Los Angeles, CA. I was eating a peanut butter sandwich and she broke out in hives all over just from being around me and touching the peanut butter on my hand. I immediately made her an appointment with an allergist and she was officially diagnosed with a severe, life threatening peanut allergy. I asks the allergist about the possibility of the desensitization program I had researched on the internet. I was told it was not a possibility for her because  her allergy was so severe and because she had asthma, and that it was a brand new treatment still in the experimental phases. Her Doctor then proceeded to tell me horror story after horror story of peanut related deaths, accomplishing her goal of scaring me into being overly paranoid and careful. Ever since that day She hasn't been able to eat anything without reading the ingredient labels first to make sure it's safe. If there are no ingredients listed, she simply cannot take that risk, and she doesn't eat it. Every trip to the grocery store includes checking ingredient labels on EVERYTHING that I buy, looking for that dreaded phrase "processed in a facility that processes peanuts" before I put it in my cart. As a mother it is absolutely terrifying sending her off to school or to a friends house. Every time she leaves the house I know there is a risk that if she is exposed to peanuts it's as dangerous as if a gun has gun off. For her, her allergy is a restricted way of life. She can't eat birthday cake at a birthday party. She can't eat out at a restaurant. She can't eat candy thrown at a parade, she can't sit with her friends at the park if they packed a peanut butter sandwich. The older she gets she becomes more aware of the "isolation" factor that all children with peanut allergies experience. It's heart breaking to see the look on her face time after time when she is the only one who can't do what her friends are doing. This has simply become a way of life for us. However I always hoped that we would find a solution, and I've never stopped looking. We moved to Utah When Kaylie was three, and we carefully chose the best allergy Dr. we could find, Dr. Jones at Rocky Mountain Allergy . When Kaylie turned five I took her in for her annual allergy testing appointment, Dr. Jones brought up the possibility of desensitizing her. I immediately discounted the thought because of what I had been previously told. But the idea lingered in the back on my mind and it took me a full year to wrap my head around the idea that this might be possible for her. It was right after Kaylie finished kindergarten and was about to enter 1st grade with the "school lunch" scene that I finally decided it was time. It was no coincidence that I saw our own Dr. Jones on the news reporting about another little boy who had just successfully completed the program. That was the push I needed, and I called his office the very next week and made the appointment.