Caleb experienced another food ingestion challenge last week. (We've already challenged his body with eggs and been completely successful! So eggs are now fully acceptable in his diet.)
This challenge was for peanuts! When the nurse brought in this whopping spoonful of peanut butter, I almost panicked. But then she dipped in the tongue depressor and pulled out a tiny bite, and I felt much better.
We did small bites like this every 10-20 minutes for almost an hour and a 1/2. The team closely monitored Caleb's responses. Within a couple of minutes of eating each bite, Caleb said his tongue was itchy and his throat felt funny, like it was tight. Not an extreme reaction, and they weren't too worried. We still don't want to have him eat peanut products, but we found out that he would be totally fine eating items that "may contain traces..." or that are "processed in a plant that also processes peanuts..."
SO MANY MORE FOOD OPTIONS! Yay!
And we'll repeat the test in a few weeks to see if peanut butter might even be okay.
As you can see, the process didn't seem to bother Caleb. He brought a book and was so engrossed, it was hard to interrupt him long enough to see how he felt every few minutes.
The result of a great test was a small bag of mini M&Ms for an after-dinner treat! Can you believe that's his first bag of M&Ms? What a deprived child!
I even love how he carefully sorted them before enjoying every last little bite!
Caleb, we're glad to know that so many more foods are now safe for you! We're proud of how you've handled having to say "no" to many foods over the past 5 years, and pray that God will use that experience to remind you to be grateful for all that you are given, and to have compassion toward others in challenging circumstances.
