A Sweet Ending

Romans 8:28.  "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

18 months ago, I started our OIT journey with those words tucked in my heart, but a flurry of fear swirling in my head.  Two days ago, our journey ended, and THOSE WORDS-- they came to fruition.  God gave us the sweetest ending to our OIT journey that I could have imagined-- actually he gave us a SWEETER ending than I could have imagined.  Brendan's graduation from OIT was absolutely perfect. And I know without a doubt that my God orchestrated it to be that way.

Heading into our final appointment day, I was discouraged.  Brendan had been delayed both by sickness and reactions to his dose, and he *should* have graduated weeks before.  I was SO tired.  I was SO ready for this to be over.  I walked on pins and needles in the days before our final appointment.  Would Brendan gag on his dose and set us back another two weeks?  Would he come down with a mystery illness just before we were set to leave?  Would seasonal allergies get the best of him and cause a reaction to his dose?  I was a ball of nerves.

We had Mexican food on Monday-- the boys were off school,
and I was thankful for one less day to worry about
 catching some kind of bug at school right before Brendan graduated!

But Wednesday morning arrived (bright and early since we had a 7:30am flight) without incident!  This was really going to happen!!  I realized that I had forgotten to fill out our online follow up forms for the appointment, so around 5am, I logged on to our patient portal and noticed a message there waiting for me.  It was from Dr. Silvers.  He had sent it Tuesday afternoon, but somehow the system didn't send me a notification until the middle of the night.  I opened the message with a tinge of fear-- it was simply titled "Tomorrow."  Was Dr. Silvers cancelling our appointment?  No, definitely not a cancellation.  It was a message letting me know that a news crew would be in the office tomorrow, and asking if Brendan and I would be willing to be interviewed about OIT.  I quickly changed out of the ratty t-shirt and jean shorts that I was planning on wearing to the appointment into something a little more presentable.  Brendan was already in his graduation day t-shirt, so he would be ready to ROCK a TV interview if one came his way.

Brendan, all ready for the flight to Dallas.
His shirt says, "Straight Outta Food Allergies. #OITworks"

Our flight went off without a hitch, and before we knew it, we were in an exam room.  Dr. Silvers, Brendan, and I all ate peanut M&M's together.  Brendan had to eat 40 peanut M&M's, twice as many as he had ever eaten before.  We chatted while we ate the M&M's.  Totally low-stress.  Almost normal.  Except for that part where my kid was eating the very food that could have killed him just a few months ago.  There he was.  Eating peanut M&M's LIKE A BOSS.  And if our day had ended there, our OIT graduation would have been SWEET.  But God had an even SWEETER ending in store for Brendan.  I'm pretty sure God was wearing a "Go Big or Go Home" t-shirt up in Heaven on Wednesday!

Dr. Silvers examines Brendan before every dose, just to make sure he's healthy.

Here we are, just eating peanut M&M's together and chatting.  No big thang!!

Dr. Silvers left the room to see another patient while Brendan finished his last few M&M's.  Just a few seconds later, Angela, one of the awesome PAs at our office, knocked on the exam room door.  She poked her head in the door and said, "There's another family here that is graduating today, too, and she says you've 'met' online, and they'd really like to meet you in person.  They are in the room next door if you'd like to pop your head in."

So, I left my kiddo eating his last couple of M&M's and popped in next door.  About a week before our appointment, this mom, Aimee, and I had discovered on a Facebook OIT group that our kiddos would be graduating on the same day.  We had been "online" friends for months now, following each other's journeys.  We were both hoping that neither of the kiddos would have a set-back to delay their graduation dates (we had both been delayed already by sickness and reactions).  It would be SO NEAT (or should I say, so SWEET?!) to be able to meet in person, and on graduation day at that!  Sure enough, when I popped my head in the room next door, there was Aimee, and her sweet little girl, plus her whole family!  Even grandma came to graduation!  We said a few quick hellos-- we knew we'd get more time to talk in the big waiting room where the kids sit after they've taken their doses.  I headed back to our exam room to find Brendan downing the last of the M&M's.  He had done it!!!  Peanuts in.  Now we wait.

He did it!!!

The waiting was SO easy (and SO SWEET!) because we got to talk with Aimee and her family for most of the time.  How neat for both our kids to have an OIT graduation buddy.  We were so busy chatting, that I never took a picture of us all together!!  Maybe we'll have our 5 week follow up on the same day and get a second shot at taking pics together!

This is Aimee and her daughter.  They travel from New Orleans for OIT!

Before I knew it, our 45 minutes had passed.  Brendan had graduated peanut OIT!!!  Our plan was to graduate hazelnuts on the same day, so we would need to hang around the office for a few more hours, just to make extra sure that he didn't have a reaction to the peanuts.  Then, around 1pm, he would be able to eat his hazelnuts and hopefully pass those, too!  So, we hung out at the office for a few more minutes, when Dr. Silvers came into the OIT waiting room and told us that the news crew had arrived.  It was time for Brendan's 15 minutes of OIT fame! SWEET!!

Brendan gets ready for his big moment!

Brendan and I got a taste of TV production life.  We staged Brendan's visit for the TV crew and had to do several "takes" of everything.  Brendan handled it all like a champ!  We were even able to give Dr. Silvers his OIT graduation gift-- a shirt just like Brendan's graduation shirt-- and it was all captured on camera!  Dr. Silvers told me that he better read the card somewhere else-- I agreed.  I think we both would have lost it if he read the card in front of me.  We are SO grateful for him.  Offering OIT is not easy for a doctor.  You have to be on call 24/7 in case kids have reactions.  You have to really know your patients and treat each case differently.  Dr. Silvers has done all this and more.  It is hard to express the deep gratitude that I feel for him, so I wrote him a note thanking him the best I could. 

I could go on and on about how awesome Dr. Silvers is, but I know you want to hear more about the TV shoot!!  The crew briefly interviewed both me and Brendan.  Then, our part was over and they took some shots of the nurses mixing doses and interviewed Dr. Silvers.  We were told that the segment would run on the NBC Dallas 5pm news, but that they would also post a clip online.  Good thing, since our flight was set to leave right at 5pm, and we would miss the actual broadcast.

Interview time!

So, what are the chances that a TV crew just happens to show up on the day Brendan is graduating OIT, and we just happen to be the only OIT patients in the office at the time the crew arrives?  Coincidence?  Or was God just making sure that Brendan's OIT graduation was extra SWEET?  I'm going to go with the latter.

The news clip!!!

 After the news crew left, we headed back to the OIT waiting room.  Brendan worked on some homework, and we both ate lunch.  Before we knew it, it was time for the hazelnut challenge.  Brendan ate his homemade Nutella sandwich in record time.  We were almost done!  Just another hour of waiting to go, and Brendan would be FREE from his food allergies!

Homemade Nutella is not as delicious as real Nutella,
but it has a lot more hazelnut in it!!

The hour passed a little slower this time.  We only had homework to keep us company!  But soon enough, nurse Cara was coming in to give Brendan his graduation certificate and take his picture!! This was it!  He had really done it!  He had conquered his food allergy enemies!  He was FREE!!!

Posing with his certificate!

So let's review our day:
Peanuts Conquered? Check. 
Hazelnuts Conquered? Check. 
Meeting online friends in real life? Check. 
Becoming TV stars for the day? Check.

Really?  Could this day have been any SWEETER?  Nope.  God worked everything-- our triumphs and set backs for Brendan's good.  And He made this day simply incredible just to be extra sweet to Brendan.  

Another shot with the certificate, just because!

As I was praying before I wrote this blog today, I was in tears, thanking God for how sweet he was to Brendan on graduation day.  God's response?  "I was sweet to YOU, too."  And then came the big, ugly tears.  Because Brendan is such a loving, kind, SWEET boy, that's it's easy to see why God would be sweet to him.  But sweet to me, too?!  I'm the mom who's out here just doing the best she can, and sometimes that best is laundry stuck in the dryer for a week, pizza for dinner, and a side of yelling at my kids over their homework.  But that's just it.  He's not sweet to us because we're sweet.  He's sweet to us because that's who He is.  And who He is, is a God who works together ALL things for our good.  My boy's good. AND my good.

Allergy moms (and dads!)-- I'm talking to you.  God sees you reading labels and trying so hard to keep your little one safe.  He sees you sneaking Snickers bars over the kitchen sink after bedtime, and he sees you crying in your room after bedtime when your kiddo has been excluded because of food.  Again.  And whether or not you choose the path of OIT, He's still working it all together for the good of your child AND for your good.  And in one way or another-- He will bring you a SWEET ending, too.

 Because that's who He is.  I am SO thankful for the sweet ending He gave us on our OIT journey.  The days and weeks to come will be filled with a different kind of SWEET, as Brendan explores new foods and freedoms.  We got started that very night in the airport before we flew home.  First up:  Random Chinese food, followed by hand-scooped ice cream. SWEET!!!!

Mystery Chinese food!!

Check out that chocolate coated waffle cone!
SWEET!!!

Delayed

Well, we made it to visit number 50.  It seemed to go well at first.  Dr. Silvers even raced Brendan to eat his hazelnut dose of a homemade Nutella sandwich.  Have I mentioned how much we love Dr. Silvers?  He's just amazing, and I can tell he really cares about Brendan.

Dr. Silvers won the race ;).

After Brendan ate his dose, we waited in the office the customary 45 minutes, and Brendan seemed fine.  We called an Uber to take us back to the airport.  The security line was long at the airport, and Brendan seemed tired.  I didn't think anything of it, because I was tired, too!  After we made it through the security line, we grabbed some dinner as usual.  Brendan loves the burrito place in the airport, so we ordered dinner there.  He complained that the rice in his burrito was a little crunchy, so instead of scarfing it down, he only ate about two thirds of it.  Thinking back, the tiredness and the lack of eating SHOULD have been a clue to me that he wasn't feeling well, but I didn't clue in.

We sat at the gate and Brendan worked on homework while waiting to board the flight.  Boarding kind of sneaked up on us, so when I heard the gate agent calling for pre-boarding (which is how we board the airplane due to Brendan's peanut allergy), I jumped up and encouraged Brendan to do so, also.  That was a fatal move.

This is an old picture of a pre-board pass.
We will lose our pre-board privileges once Brendan graduates from OIT.
It's pretty much the only perk of having a peanut allergy.

About 10 feet down the jetway, Brendan began to vomit.  We walked back toward the gate as he continued to vomit over pretty much every last inch of the jetway.  Apparently, he hadn't been feeling well since the Uber ride. He told me it was bumpy and made him motion sick.  We pre-medicate Brendan with meclizine before every trip because he is prone to motion sickness.  He usually doesn't get motion sickness if he has taken meclizine, but it has happened before.  I think his vomiting was a combination of motion sickness AND his dose.

We delayed the entire flight by 30 minutes so that they could clean up the vomit.  We were the only ones able to board on time (Sorry, flight 49!).  Thank goodness the flight was delayed so that I could speak with Dr. Silvers on the phone.  I could hear the sadness in his voice when I told him that Brendan had vomited on the jetway.  We were SO close to graduating OIT-- just one week away, and now Brendan had not tolerated his dose.  It was heartbreaking.  Dr. Silvers told me the new plan.  Brendan would take 10 peanuts and hazelnuts the next morning, and if he tolerated those, he'd go back up to 12 for the evening.

That time you get a text telling you that your flight is delayed,
and you know *exactly why* it's delayed :/.

The following morning arrived, and to complicate matters, I was leaving on a cruise with a group of girlfriends.  The morning dose of 10 went well, but I knew Brendan traditionally had more trouble with evening doses, and that night's dose would be all up to my hubby.  I left my hubby detailed instructions on the doses, as well as how to reach Dr. Silvers if he needed to.  It's a good thing I left all those instructions, because that evening's dose of 12 did not go well.  Brendan ate 20 peanut M&M's for his peanut dose (M&M peanuts are smaller than regular peanuts, so 12 peanuts = 20 peanut M&M's), but then as he was eating his homemade Nutella sandwich, he began to gag, and he vomited.  My hubby called Dr. Silvers immediately, and Dr. Silvers asked him to wait 30 minutes and try a half dose (6 of each nut).  If that went well, he was to try the full dose again the next morning.

This picture was taken just a few hours before Brendan vomited his evening dose.
Thank God for my hubby who was able to keep the ship at home running
while I went off and played on a ship of my own!

The half dose went well, so the next morning (it's Friday, 9/30, at this point), Brendan ate a full dose of 12 peanuts and 12 hazelnuts.  That dose went well!!!  My hubby was supposed to call Dr. Silvers on Friday after the morning dose for the new plan.  When he called, I told him to ask for once a day dosing, which Dr. Silvers had offered to us a few weeks before, but we declined.  It would take us two weeks to get to graduation instead of one, but it seems like Brendan tolerates the morning doses better than those in the evening . So, on Friday, Dr. Silvers allowed us to switch to once a day dosing!  Praise God!!

I might feel just a *little* bit guilty that this was my view
while my sweet hubby was at home figuring out the next steps for dosing.

Brendan has taken his 12 peanuts and 12 hazelnuts every morning since last Friday, and has been OK every single time.  I think we are back on track.  So despite a delayed flight and a delayed dosing schedule, we WILL arrive at our destination.  The new estimated time of arrival is next Wednesday, October 12th.  If all goes well between now and then, he will eat 24 peanuts and 24 hazelnuts that day, and he will GRADUATE from OIT.

He will be able to eat ANYTHING he wants.  We are SO excited for that day, and we are cautiously optimistic that despite our delays, we will conquer peanuts and hazelnuts once and for all.  We are MORE than ready for TAKE-OFF into our new life of FREEDOM!

This eclair may or may not have been sitting
directly next to a donut filled with peanut butter!
We are already experiencing new-found freedom!  #OITworks