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Bites for Jaden, Washington D.C., DC (2025)

04/02/2025

Visit 14, April 1 & 2, 2025.

PEANUT HAS NOW ENTERED THE CHAT! Only 25 hours on the ground in Long Beach but it was hands down, the most memorable trip we’ve taken. Exactly three years (!!) into the program and Jaden officially started dosing peanut.

Day 1: Left DCA at 6:10a ET, landed at LGB at 11:30a PT, ate lunch at California Fish Grill, stopped by Whole Foods to get a pack of Abe’s muffins, checked into the hotel, then had our appointment at 2:05p. Jaden successfully challenged 3/4 tsp chickpea, 2.5 tsp cashew and 1/4 tsp sesame and then we were off to Barnes & Noble for his post-appointment reward. We switched it up to avoid Target and B&N surprisingly has a nice selection. We were exhausted after waking up at 3:30a ET so just went back to the hotel for an early night.

Day 2: I woke up anxious. I know we’ve been working for this moment for 3 years. I know Jaden’s been priming his body and that the bloodwork indicates he was ready. But actually giving him peanuts?! Holy moly. First, Jaden challenged 30-ml soy milk, since we’ll be updosing to 30-ml. Then Jaden was given 1mg of peanut and we waited 15 minutes to confirm his body can tolerate it…and it did 🙌🏼 Over the next 8 weeks, Jaden will slowly updose to 4mg and then challenge 6mg when we return in June.

To put things into perspective. Jaden ate 1mg. 1 whole peanut is ~400mg and once we get to 240mg, he’s cleared cross-contamination so can eat all the things he wants that says “may container peanut.” And to fully understand how slowly this process will be, we won’t clear cross-contamination for a YEAR!

Three years in and we still have more than two years left before graduating to food freedom but I can’t even express what this moment feels like.

Thank you to everyone who has been along for this journey and cheering Jaden on! We really appreciate the support.

04/01/2025

On our way to Long Beach for our next appointment but before we get there, let’s recap Cycle 1️⃣3️⃣ January 9 - March 31, 2025

Over the last 11+ weeks, Jaden slowly updosed chickpea to 1/4 tsp, sesame to 500g and cashew to 2 tsp. He actually had two days off mid-March and while I was hoping his next appointments would align to avoid missing school, I had a feeling we should give ourselves extra buffer days. And thank goodness we did - not only did he lose TWO teeth this cycle, Jaden also got the flu and took a trip to the ER for a bad case walking pneumonia. It was a tough Winter but we made it through.

Even with all the skip days, I have to say, this cycle went really well. It was hard having the boys home so much while trying to work but I always look back at photos and remind myself that I am lucky to have this time with them and a job that allows me to.

Some highlights from this cycle include: playing chess, doing science experiments, swim lessons, soccer, Chuck E. Cheese and Jaden’s favorite: celebrating Holi with his classmates.

Also, can we take a moment and acknowledge the fact that Jaden is consuming significant amounts of chickpea and sesame?! Two foods that landed him in the ER before he turned 2 😲 I can’t even put into words what this accomplishment means to me.

LET’S 👏🏽GO 👏🏽 JADEN 👏🏽

03/24/2025

VISIT 13 RECAP! Only 3 months late

As we near the end of Cycle 13, I realized I never posted a Visit 13 summary🙈 The last 3 months have been nothing short of chaotic and that’s exactly how our last visit started. Will post later about this cycle but for now…

The Good

* DC was expected to get hit hard with a snow storm the day of our flight to California so Jaden and I left a day early to avoid possible flight delays and cancellations. Woohoo for an extra day in the sun!
* Jaden successfully challenged 24-ml chicken egg white, 200-mg chickpea and 325-mg sesame. This cycle, we will be escalating chickpea, sesame and cashew (he already has ¾ tsp in maintenance for months and we are increasing to 8g).

The Bad

* Our original trip to California was only supposed to be 1 night. We first tacked on a day on the front end to avoid the snow in DC and then we tacked on a day on the back end because we were worried about flight delays getting back into DC. What we were not prepared for were the fires that broke out in LA while we were there. Long Beach is ~25 miles from LA, but we were way too close for comfort. By the time our flight took off, there was a lot of smoke in the air and I couldn’t wait to get back home.

The GREAT

* While Jaden is still technically capped at 24-ml chicken egg white, he can officially have a cupcake or cake made with egg! He can have treats his friends bring to school for their birthdays. He can have French toast or pancakes or event chicken tenders at a restaurant. We’ve been in the program just about 3 years and I’d say this is the most major milestone we’ve reached.
* We planned to go skating again at Pigeons Roller Rink and they had a Pixar putt-putt pop-up and it was a lot of fun!
* I haven’t said this about an airline in a long time but I have to shout-out Southwest for their customer service. Before they let me know I could change our travel (due to weather) for free, I had already changed our flight for an additional $400. Once I learned they waived the change fees in instances like this, I called them and they refunded me with no hassle 🙌🏼

Stay tuned for a recap of our 11-week cycle!

01/01/2025

I know, I know! I owe you all an update on this entire cycle. There has been a lot so going to give top lines and feel free to ask questions!

Cycle 12 was only 11 weeks but boy, did it feel like forever. Jaden did bloodwork at his last appointment in September and we got home and patiently waited for the results to update his maintenance. The volume of food was so much between the different milks, waffles filled with nuts/seeds and whole nuts. Shortly after we started dosing chickpea, sesame and chicken egg white, Jaden started saying his stomach would hurt. It would resolve fairly quickly but happened almost every day. A few weeks into the cycle, we got updated maintenance and a ton of foods went to weekly and 3x/week so I was hoping it would help with the stomach aches. Unfortunately, it didn’t, and Jaden would randomly vomit so we were advised to get a KUB abdominal x-ray. Once we did, they saw how backed up he was and we were directed to do a “clean out” 🫠

Saturday, October 12 - We started this cleanse at 8a by mixing 8.3 oz of Miralax with 64 ounces of yellow Gatorade. Jaden ate breakfast that morning and was advised to have only a clear liquid diet (apple juice and white or yellow Gatorade) until the cleanse was over. He drank 8oz every 2 hours…and did not finish until Sunday, October 13 at 8p…he had nothing but juice and Gatorade for 36 hours 😭 I couldn’t believe how well he handled it and by the time he was done, there was no question in my mind, his belly was empty! He also said “I was basically in jail. You didn’t give me any food and I wasn’t even allowed to go outside.” 😂

Back to dosing…while we were figuring out Jaden’s belly issues, we paused morning maintenance and afternoon treatment. Which meant we fell behind in our cycle and needed a build up plan…and that meant rescheduling his original Visit 13 appointments scheduled for December 4/5. Given the holidays, we weren’t able to reschedule until January 6 & 7. I really don’t like adding more time to the program but at least we were able to enjoy the holidays with a few extra buffer days. I’d say the worst part of a build up was figuring out the proper amounts of all the maintenance food! Weekly, daily and 3x/week foods all varied doses on different days - his waffles had different amounts of 15+ items and it took 2+ hours to prep what he needed for the week-long build-up.

It was a lot of work, and I was really stressed out and overwhelmed but honestly, I am still just so grateful for this program. We reached maximum doses for chickpea (100 mg), sesame (300 mg) and chicken egg white (11 ml) weeks ago and I still can’t over the fact that Jaden is tolerating foods that used to terrify me.

Happy New Year and cheers to another year of successful visits on this journey to food freedom ✨💫

Monica Lucas

09/13/2024

Visit 12 recap - a week late but an update nonetheless!

Jaden’s last visit was a total success! Cycle 11 was 9-weeks and he escalated hazelnut, introduced Brazil nut and cashew and took one step closer to egg freedom by dosing duck egg white. This is Jaden’s second cycle treating hazelnut and we have been taking it very slowly since he reacted severely to his 250 mg dose during the last cycle. We reached 450 and the provider confirmed with Dr. Randhawa that Jaden will continue to escalate hazelnut two more times – honestly, I am ok with it. After seeing him break out into hives, I’d rather slow things down to make sure his body can handle it.

Our appointments could have been scheduled a week earlier (I really do not like adding too many buffer days) but it was Jaden’s first week of 1st grade and his 6thbirthday. Day 1 started with his yearly bloodwork. After last year’s, I decided to prep Jaden for it ahead of time so he could mentally prepare for the needle. I told him he said it didn’t hurt last time, I reminded him he was going to get a reward from Target right after and the most convincing part is that I told him the amount of food he had to eat every morning would drop. I don’t know what your 5/6 year olds eat for breakfast but Jaden’s maintenance breakfast was getting out of hand.

* 1 ounce soy milk
* 2 ounces coconut milk
* 3ml quail egg white
* 4 almonds
* 4 walnut halves
* 4 pecan halves
* 1/8 tsp mustard mixed with chocolate
* A waffle with 2 tsp pistachio, 1 tsp buckwheat, ½ tsp chestnut, ¼ tsp of flax, sunflower, pumpkin, chia and poppy seeds
* And then three times a week: 30 pine nuts, 2 macadamia nuts, 1 oz kidney beans, 15 ml chicken egg yolk

He was definitely nervous but was brave and handled it well. And I can’t wait to get his updated maintenance in 4-6 weeks! Then onto his challenges – hazelnut, Brazil nut, cashew and duck egg white were all a success! Since it was a 3-day appointment, there was a lot of downtime. It was also almost 100 degrees the whole time so Jaden and Anthony (we swapped parents this time!) enjoyed the heat and got to have what Jaden referred to as “boy time.”

I remember starting this program about 2.5 years ago, looking at the dosing schedule and thinking “wow, appointment 12 is going to be major – not only do we clear egg cross-contamination but we are also introducing two of Jaden’s biggest allergens, sesame and chickpea.” And while it has been so much work, this appointment really reminded me of why it is all worth it.

**Jaden safely consumed sesame and chickpea. Jaden safely consumed foods that landed us in the ER 4 years ago.**

I trust the doctor’s. I have trusted the process. But you better believe I was holding my breathe every time Anthony texted me to tell me he introduced those two foods. We have a long way to go and will escalate these over various cycles but I really feel a sense of accomplishment even getting to this point. My baby is DOING IT!

Over the next 11 weeks, Jaden will escalate chicken egg white to 11-ml (yes, that’s right – he will be consuming chicken egg yolk AND chicken egg white!), sesame to 300mg and chickpea to 100mg. I don’t know when he will be able to have cupcakes with egg in it but I can’t wait. Over the last 6 years, I have baked hundreds upon hundreds of eggless goods and I am OVER IT.

A week before our appointment, I received the dosing schedule and they actually had Jaden reaching ¼ tsp of chickpea flour and 300 mg of sesame. It was much higher than what our original plan laid out and after a lot of questions (are you sure his body can tolerate it since we had to slow down hazelnut and they are in the same family of bioproteins?) and concerns, the provider agreed we would go back to the original plan. Even though he hasn’t reached where he was supposed to be for hazelnut, they feel comfortable sticking to the plan for chickpea. This isn’t to scare anyone but this is why it is important to look at your plan, study it carefully and ask as many questions as you need to make it make sense. Until I asked about escalating hazelnut again, they did not address it and only after bringing it up, they agreed he would have to dose it two more times.

I’d say this was another wonderful trip for Jaden and feels like a huge step in the process. Jaden only has a few more foods he will be dosing over the next 2 years (hazelnut, chickpea, sesame, lentil, pea, peanut) and these are the BIG ones I have been waiting for.

Check out his progress so far:

* Guar gum
* Alfalfa
* Buckwheat
* Quail egg yolk
* Pinto bean
* Poppy seed
* Duck egg yolk
* Pumpkin seed
* Black bean
* Pine nut
* Chicken egg yolk
* Kidney bean
* Pecan
* Mustard seed
* Macadamia nut
* Almond
* Sunflower seed
* Soy milk
* Quail egg white
* Walnut
* Pistachio
* Coconut
* Duck egg white
* Cashew
* Brazil Nut

He really has come a lot way and I couldn’t be more proud of him. If anyone is in the Long Beach area December 4/5, join us for Visit 13 or at least a trip to Noble Bird!

Monica Lucas

06/26/2024

Visit 11…✔️

Jaden’s visit landed right after his last day of school so to kick-off summer break, Anthony and Ethan joined us and turned our trip to Long Beach into our first family vacation of the season! Ethan’s one and only visit was for Jaden’s launch way back in April 2022 when he was barely 1 so to see him running around Cali with his big brother was a great experience ❤️

Day 1 started with a 6a flight - and boy is it different traveling with a 3 year old! we arrived in Long Beach with plenty of time before our appointment so went straight to Noble Bird for lunch. Finally made it to visit 11/day 1 that afternoon and started with our first challenge: coconut milk. easy peasy. second challenge: pistachio. easy peasy. third challenge: hazelnut. easy peasy (with total anxiety for the entire 5 minute exercise window since Jaden had a major reaction and broke out into hives halfway through this cycle). I trust the doctors and believe they know what they’re doing but what you challenge is usually twice the amount you last dosed at home and I was worried it would be too much. thankfully the doctors had the same idea and only challenged 300mg (after reaching 200mg at home). because of the slower progression, hazelnut has been added as another food we will be dosing this cycle.

we were all exhausted by the time we left Jaden’s appointment but you know we had to go get Jaden’s (and Ethan’s) post-appointment gift from Target! a zillion Minion-related toys and Bakugans later, we were back in the hotel room, bathed and in bed by 7p.

Day 2: the clinic was closed in observance of Juneteenth so we had the whole day to ourselves. we had been having family discussions about whether we go to Disney or Legoland and Legoland won so off to Carlsbad we went. long story short - it was amazing! the weather wasn’t too hot so we weren’t tempted by the water park and the best part…we were able to find safe food options for Jaden at Knights Smokehouse BBQ 🙌🏼🥳 we’ll have to make another trip after Ethan turns 4 though because he wasn’t allowed to ride all the wild roller coasters he wanted to try. lucky for me because I wasn’t trying to ride them anyways 😬 we spent 8 hours at the park, stayed for the closing parade and stopped by the giftshop on the way out to get thousands of legos that will be spread all over our living room floor 😭

Day 3: Jaden had his second appointment first thing in the morning and introduced brazil but, cashew and duck egg white - one step closer to clearing egg 🙌🏽 it was an easy appointment and Ethan didn’t understand why he didn’t get to jump on the trampoline or run down the halls this time 😂 we were still recovering from Legoland so had a more low key day - first with a round of mini golf then we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the pool.

Day 4 of vacation was free and the weather was absolutely perfect for a day at Huntington Beach. the boys got in the cold water and rolled around in the sand and loved every minute of it. that night, we met some friends at Noble Bird and all our kiddos got to run in circles and get their energy out before bed!

by our final day in California, we were ready to get home and start prepping for Cycle 11! since we had missed 5 days of maintenance, Jaden had a build-up plan to ease his body back into everything. prepping for that was probably the hardest part! half of some things, whole amounts of others.

for the next 9 weeks, Jaden will be dosing hazelnut, brazil nut, cashew and duck egg whites - thankfully most of it are gummies for the majority of the time so I only had to prep duck egg and morning maintenance. the amount of stuff he has to eat hasn’t changed too much - just added 2 tsp of pistachio to his “everything” waffle and 2 oz of coconut milk.

since Jaden is dosing 4 things, our next trip will be 3 days and falls right after school starts 🙈 I hate him missing days but it’s all going to be worth it in the end.

Check out our progress:

Guar Gum ✅
Alfalfa ✅
Chia ✅
Quail Egg Yolk ✅
Pinto Bean ✅
Poppy ✅
Duck Egg Yolk ✅
Buckwheat ✅
Pumpkin Seed ✅
Black Bean ✅
Pine Nut ✅
Hen Egg Yolk ✅
Kidney Bean ✅
Mustard Seed ✅
Macadamia ✅
Sunflower Seed ✅
Pecan ✅
Denatured Soy Milk ✅
Flax Seed ✅
Chestnut ✅
Almond ✅
Soy Milk ✅
Quail Egg White ✅
Walnut ✅
Pistachio ✅
Coconut ✅
*Hazelnut - currently dosing
*Duck Egg White - currently dosing
*Brazil Nut - currently dosing
*Cashew - currently dosing and will require escalation
Chicken Egg White
Chickpea
Sesame
Pea
Lentil
Peanut

I can’t believe we only have 6 more foods to clear before we’re done - this program really has been life changing for us!

cc: Monica Lucas Anthony Lucas

05/15/2024

TW: allergic reaction.

I created this account for multiple reasons:

- to document Jaden’s unbelievable progress and his journey to achieving food freedom;

- to connect with other families already in the program in hopes of learning or teaching useful tips;

- and so other families, desperate to find a solution to protect their food allergy child, can gather enough information to decide if they want to dedicate the time and money to join this program. and to do this, it’s important to be fully transparent, even when things aren’t going well.

while our last 2 years have been fairly uneventful, tonight all of that changed - and we were reminded that this program is hard. and scary. and that we are actively giving our child foods we know he is allergic to.

cycle 10, week 7. we updosed last night to 225mg hazelnut gummies, 20ml coconut milk and 1tsp pistachio and had no trouble. tonight, shortly after dosing his hazelnut gummies, Jaden broke out into hives. his back, chest, neck and forehead were covered in minutes but thankfully his breathing was fine, he had no stomach pains and didn’t vomit. Anthony acted quickly giving Jaden scenario 1 meds (Benedryl and Famotidine, a Histamine H2-receptor antagonists). the medications quickly stopped the spread of the hives and the swelling went down almost entirely before he went to bed 2 hours later.

during all of this, we reached the Provider On Call who told us to monitor and call back if things got worse. thankfully they didn’t. then we were also given a slightly modified plan where he will be dosing smaller amounts of hazelnut and building back up to 225mg.

I feel relieved that he’s ok (just sleeping in my bed to make sure he doesn’t have a secondary reaction…and to ease my anxiety) but tonight was tough. the last time he had hives like this was almost 4 years ago and it ended with an Epi and an ambulance ride to the ER. my first reaction was “I am absolutely done with this program” but then I reminded myself that this program is the only chance of Jaden reaching food freedom so we’re going to keep trusting the process and hope for the best.

❤️❤️

photo shows how bad the hives got. thankfully they stopped progressing once he took both medications.

04/02/2024

Visit 10/19 ☑️ I don’t want to jinx ourselves but honestly….there wasn’t much to report after this last cycle or appointment and it’s definitely a good thing – no news is good news! Jaden lost two teeth last month but I was expecting it and added extra buffer days.

Thursday started with a 6:30 AM Southwest flight to Long Beach (through Kansas City). Thank goodness we had extra buffer time because I didn’t factor how busy DCA would be given Spring Break and the cherry blossoms in DC. Once we landed, we enjoyed the beautiful weather with an outdoor lunch at California Fish Grill before our appointment at 2:30 PM. Jaden successfully challenged 30-ml soy milk, 3-ml quail egg white and a lot of walnut (I can’t remember the exact amount) but I’d say the best part of it all is that we finally said goodbye to the 60-ml of denatured soy Jaden has had in maintenance for the last 2 cycles! It is also crazy because I am allergic to soy milk and Jaden gets a kick out of the fact that he can eat something I can’t 😊

We wrapped up Day 1 with our usual, Target and toys, and were in bed before the sun set.

Day 2: Jaden has been adjusting really well to the time change and rather than waking up at 3 or 4 AM like he did when we first started the program, he didn’t wake up until closer to 5:45! It gave us enough time to eat breakfast before his 8 AM appointment where he challenged/escalated pistachio and introduced coconut milk and hazelnut. Once we finished, we were already headed back to LGB to catch our flight home!

Our favorite moment: while Jaden was exercising in the gym during his appointment, our favorite Medical Assistant swung by our room and left Jaden a personalized note, along with a slap bracelet and stickers. When we came back and saw it, Jaden smiled the biggest smile I have ever seen. This program is a lot of work and can be tough for a 5 year old but the Food Allergy Institute staff has been unbelievably supportive while they cheer on each of these kids.

Cycle 10 (pistachio, coconut and hazelnut) will be 10 weeks and Visit 11 falls perfectly a week and a half after Jaden’s school ends. Looking forward to our next trip since the whole family will be joining us!

Morning maintenance looks more or less the same but the biggest difference is the amount of whole nuts Jaden gets to eat – almond, walnut, pecan, pine nut and macadamia are all whole and uncapped and thank GOODNESS Jaden loves them all!

Check out our progress:

Guar Gum ✅
Alfalfa ✅
Chia ✅
Quail Egg Yolk ✅
Pinto Bean ✅
Poppy ✅
Duck Egg Yolk ✅
Buckwheat ✅
Pumpkin Seed ✅
Black Bean ✅
Pine Nut ✅
Hen Egg Yolk ✅
Kidney Bean ✅
Mustard Seed ✅
Macadamia ✅
Sunflower Seed ✅
Pecan ✅
Denatured Soy Milk ✅
Flax Seed ✅
Chestnut ✅
Almond ✅
Soy Milk ✅
Quail Egg White ✅
Walnut ✅
Pistachio
Coconut
Hazelnut
Duck Egg White
Brazil Nut
Chicken Egg White
Cashew
Chickpea
Sesame�Pea
Lentil
Peanut

cc: Monica Lucas

03/18/2024

today is the final updose day of cycle 9!

I don’t know if it’s because Jaden lost two teeth in the last month or because the winter months always drag, but this 11-week cycle felt like it took forever. though it may have been slow, I’m just grateful it was smooth one.

T-9 days until we’re back in Long Beach for Visit 10/19 to challenge: soy milk, walnut + quail egg whites and introduce: hazelnut, coconut + pistachio (escalation) 🙌🏽 🎉

01/09/2024

what better way to start 2024 than with a successful trip to Long Beach for Visit 9 (of 19). while I was hoping Jaden’s next appointment would be during his Winter Break, I didn’t really mind taking a few extra days after the holidays.

over the last 10 weeks, Jaden was treating chestnut and pistachio and escalating almond and flax (the last seed before sesame). this was the first time dosing 4 foods and not only did that extra 15 minutes of downtime really make a difference with our evening schedule, but it also required 3 days of appointments (rather than our usual 2) because we can only deal with 3 foods per day.

we flew into LGB via Southwest again (I think this is officially my favorite airline to travel to CA) and had a great experience. landed early and in the hour before our appointment, were able to swing by Whole Foods and check into our hotel.

day #1 - success! 🎉 he challenged chestnut, pistachio and almond, raced up and down the halls with our favorite Medical Assistant Ms. Kinesha and passed them all with flying colors! we were out the door off to Jaden’s favorite part of these trips - Target! to get his celebratory toy, obviously.

day #2 - started the day early with a successful flax seed challenge followed by quail egg white intro. Jaden’s been eating 15-20 ml of chicken egg yolk and it was strange to go back to 0.1ml - such a tiny amount! it’s also very exciting to start the egg white ladder…quail, duck then finally chicken. can’t wait! egg freedom will open up a lot of options for us and will allow me to stop baking as much 🙌🏽

the rest of the day was relaxing - I think both Jaden and I needed the downtime after a busy Christmas…or maybe he just wanted to hang out to play on the Nintendo Switch. either way, I was happy to lay down, read and nap. later that afternoon, I had a special treat for Jaden - he went roller skating for the first time at Pigeon’s Roller Rink! it is right around the corner from Noble Bird and something we will definitely add to future visits. another added bonus of 3-day appointments is actually having downtime to meet up with friends for dinner. we introduced them to Noble Bird and the kiddos had a great time!

day #3 - one more early appointment where we introduced walnut and soy milk and in the words of Jaden…easy peasy! I think the best part of the visit was having Ms. Kinesha come to our room to say hi even though Jaden wasn’t her patient that day. this can be such a stressful process but people like her make it so much more enjoyable ❤️ 45 minutes later and we were out the door…Visit 9 was complete ✅

we had a few hours before our flight and were home by 10:15pm that night. thankfully we were both able to sleep in Friday and once we woke up, Jaden hit the ground running and started week 1 of this cycle.

regarding Jaden’s maintenance, not much has changed. I keep shoving more stuff into his maintenance waffles so thankfully it doesn’t feel like he’s eating a lot more 😂 the one disappointment was learning he’d keep 60-ml of denatured soy milk in his maintenance while dosing regular soy milk…we were hoping it would drop off and were told it won’t drop until he passes soy milk.

new daily maintenance:

- flax: 1/4 tsp
- almond: 4
- pistachio: 1/4 tsp CAPPED
- chestnut: 1/2 tsp CAPPED
- denatured soy milk: 60 ml CAPPED
- pecan: 2 tsp CAPPED
- sunflower: 1/4 tsp CAPPED
- mustard: 1/8 tsp CAPPED

3x/week:

- macadamia: 2
- hen egg yolk: 1
- kidney/black bean: 2 tsp
- pumpkin seed: 1/4 tsp
- pine nut: 30
- buckwheat: 1 tsp

weekly:

- poppy seed: 1/4 tsp
- chia seed: 1/4 tsp
- shellfish: 1 serving

over the next 11 weeks, he’ll be dosing soy milk, quail egg white and walnut then we’re back to Long Beach March 28/29 for Visit 10 - and we’ll officially be more than halfway through his visits 🙌🏽

we’ve made a lot of progress building our “ladder” and here are the things we will still have to tackle:

- coconut
- brazil nut
- duck egg white
- chicken egg white
- cashew
- sesame
- hazelnut
- chickpea
- lentil
- pea
- peanut

10/17/2023

As promised, here is a copy of Jaden's cycle 8 tracking sheet and the chart I created to space our his maintenance foods.

10/17/2023

Visit 8/19 – ✅ And what a wonderful visit it was!

After our horrible Delta experience in July, we decided to try Southwest Airlines and flew right into Long Beach Airport. Our layover through Kansas City was amazing (clean bathrooms, a short walk to our connecting gate and best of all..safe breakfast food options for Jaden!) and it took only 37 minutes to land at LGB, get our rental car and get to the clinic for Jaden’s first appointment!

Over the last 10 weeks, Jaden was treating flax seed (1mg ➡️ 100mg), pecan (3/4 tsp ➡️ 1.5 tsp) and denatured soy milk (1 ml ➡️ 30 ml). I already know you are asking – what on EARTH is denatured soy milk? It is soy milk brought to a boil for 3 minutes, removed from heat for 2 minutes then boiled again for 1 additional minute. It breaks down the proteins so Jaden’s body can tolerate it easier. At day 1 of appointments, he challenged all three of these foods in larger quantities and PASSED – woohoo! We will be escalating flax this cycle but 2 tsp of pecan and 60-ml denatured soy milk has been added to his daily maintenance.

Speaking of maintenance…following Jaden’s July appointment, we got the results of his bloodwork and not only did they indicate a good response to the program, we also received changes to his daily maintenance! I really thought updated maintenance would be easier on everyone but I am not going to lie…I thought my head was going go explode. Trying to figure out how to group certain foods together and how to prepare it for him to eat felt like calculus class all over again. Thankfully, since Jaden actually enjoys eating the nuts, seeds, egg yolk and bean by themselves (without hiding it), we were able to limit his “everything” waffles to 3 days a week! Here is his updated maintenance:

Daily:
- Mustard (1/8 tsp CAPPED)
- Denatured Soy Milk (60-ml CAPPED)
- Pecan (2 tsp CAPPED)
- Sunflower (1/4 tsp CAPPED)

3x/week (UNCAPPED)
- Buckwheat (1 tsp)
- Pumpkin Seed (1/4 tsp)
- Macadamia (2 whole)
- Pine Nuts (30 whole)
- Hen Egg Yolk (1 yolk)
- Kidney Bean (2 tsp)

1x/week (UNCAPPED)
- Chia Seed (1/4 tsp)
- Poppy Seed (1/4 tsp)
- Shellfish

I will include a photo of how I separated each of these strategically to give Jaden whatever he needs. I know to many of you it seems OCD and over-the-top but it is the only way Anthony and I can coordinate what Jaden gets without having to constantly run things by one another.

Back to our trip – by the time our appointment ended, it was getting late on the East coast and we were starting to feel the jetlag. We went to Target (obviously) to get his post-appointment toys, put an order in at California Fish Grill, swung by Whole Foods to get Abe’s chocolate chip muffins for the room, picked up our dinner and made our way back to the hotel for a shower and bed.

Friday rolled around and we were up bright and early for Day 2 of visits – intro day to pistachio and chestnut and an escalation for almond. This cycle is the first time we are treating 4 foods (flax was broken up into two cycles) and I am just happy that three of the 4 are gummies! Chestnut will eventually switch but for now, it’s easy peasy.

Now for the fun part – Jaden and I are used to flying in and out for these appointments with very little time on the ground to enjoy. But this visit, our cousins from San Jose were also visiting the Long Beach area so we decided to stick around for an extra day and spend time with them. After our appointment, we got iHop, swung by Sensitive Sweets and met them in Costa Mesa. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery around their hotel, ate allergy-friendly treats then ended up going to Noble Bird for family dinner! We don’t get to see these cousins often so this was really the cherry on top of the entire trip.

We packed up our things that evening and spent Saturday flying back to DC. Again, I was so happy with our travel experience with Southwest and it was an added bonus to fly out of LGB considering it was 5 minutes from our hotel! Another bonus is that we landed early enough for Anthony and Ethan to meet us at the airport and the boys were SO excited to see each other. The started bickering 15 minutes after their reunion but boy, those 15 minutes were so sweet!

Once we got home, we were right back to business. The boys went down to sleep and Anthony and I started all the prep work for Cycle 8. We have roughly 12 weeks before our next visit and during this time, we will need:

- 84: chocolate coins with 1/8 tsp mustard
- 168 oz: denatured soy milk
- 48: containers with 2 tsp pecan + 1/4 tsp sunflower
- 36: containers with 2 macadamia nuts + 30 pine nuts
- 24: Wednesday/Friday waffles (2 tsp pecan, 1/4 tsp sunflower, 1/4 tsp pumpkin seed, 1 tsp buckwheat)
- 12: Monday waffles (same as W/F waffle + 1/4 tsp chia seed + 1/4 tsp poppy seeds)
- 36: 2-tsp of kidney beans
- 36: 15-ml chicken egg yolk patties

We didn’t finish everything but we made a major dent in the prep work. Fingers crossed this cycle goes smoothly and looking forward to Visit 9 scheduled for January 2, 3 and 4!

Bites for Jaden

04/02/2025

04/01/2025

03/24/2025

01/01/2025

09/13/2024

06/26/2024

05/15/2024

04/02/2024

03/18/2024

01/09/2024

10/17/2023

10/17/2023

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