In it for the long haul....

I did want to take a moment to talk about how our life is going to change by participating in this trial.  For right now, the only change will be that every day, our son will have a dose after he eats his dinner and we will monitor him for 2 hours afterwards.  Then every two weeks for 10-12 months, we will go back to the clinic for the next dose.  Other than that, nothing changes.  Our house is still peanut-free....we are still to remain vigilant about making sure he does not have peanut in any form or via cross-contamination.  This will be the same throughout the whole trial.  So, even though they see desensitization pretty early in the trials, that doesn't change anything about how we operate and how he eats.  Also...this is a long trial.  OIT is not something that you can complete in a month or two.  We will spend 10 - 12 months working on building up to his maintenance dose...then we spend at least a year, if not longer, on the maintenance dose.  During that time, we only have to go in every 3 or 4 months to do testing/bloodwork.  Once his IgE level hits less than 2 and he has been on maintenance for at least a year, then we can do the food challenge.  However, there is no exact date...every kid is different and their IgE numbers respond in the same general trend, but they don't all reach below 2 at the same time.  So, we are in this for the long haul...this isn't a magic bullet that you just swallow and you are cured.  We have to work hard for this and I can tell you that every minute we spend doing this will be worth if he is able to be safer than he is today!  If we are also able to contribute to the research and they are able to get the treatment out to other kids, then it will be worth it!