Visit #8

Visit #8! The first day of my appointment I got my blood work done. Since I was little, blood work has always been a fear of mine. It used to take me hours and hours just for the tourniquet to be put on me. However, as I got older the fear slowly disappeared. I learned that the best way for me to get it done was to lay down, close my eyes, and squeeze my parents hand. I count the whole way through and remind myself to breathe. These steps have helped me tremendously in getting it done and over with. Although my blood work anxiety never really went away, it has gotten better. My dad always tells me, “it is just one of those things you have to do in life.” 

The reason I get bloodwork is to see the progress in the program. The doctors analyze my allergy numbers and how they have changed over time. From there, they decide which maintenance can become weekly rather than daily. As previously mentioned, maintenance is the food that I eat every morning to build up tolerance to my allergens. Although the bloodwork is scary, it is so worth it. 

The next day, I tried cashew and hazelnut. After eating the food, I exercised for 5 minutes and passed! Cashew has now turned into a real nut rather than grounded up!!! I have to eat at least 5 cashews everyday. Hazelnuts are no longer a maintenance food and have turned into a dosing food. 

My dosing foods are now peanut gelatin and hazelnut. Due to the constant reactions from peanut gelatin, they decreased the amount of peanut and I am increasing the amounts on a smaller pace. I am now eating 4mg of peanut gelatin for 8 weeks and will have to get blood work again before I increase the amount.  Peanut will be a very slow progression and I won’t be done before I go to college. Additionally, I am increasing the amount of ground hazelnut every week. Hazelnuts are one of my biggest allergens and one that I'm most excited about! I cannot wait to try nutella!!