Sahil and I returned to Burlington today for his soy challenge.

History: Sahil – nutfree since age 2 – ate soy until he was six years old.  In 2010, he reacted to soy and his allergy was confirmed with a skin prick test.  He has been diligently avoiding soy for the past eight years.  For the last 2 years he has been eating foods with soybean oil and soy lecithin which most people with soy allergy can tolerate.  His most recent skin prick test last month showed a mild slight positive for soy and his soy IgE was 10.

For the last month Sahil has been complaining of occasional sneezing, watery eyes and an itch in his throat due to seasonal allergies.  We informed Dr Hanna of this and after assessing him she decided to proceed with the oral challenge.

I brought fried tofu, a sweetened tofu dessert and chocolate soy milk for the food challenge.  Sahil cringed when I listed the first two items so Dr Hanna decided to do the oral challenge with the soy milk.

10:30 am – Dr Hanna gave him 0.1 mL of the chocolate soy milk. She used a syringe and dispensed the milk in to Sahil’s mouth.

10:35 am – Sahil complained of an itchy throat which thankfully subsided after 5 minutes.

10:45 am – 0.5 mL

11 am – 1 mL

11:14 am – Sahil sneezed twice

11:18 am – 3 mL 

11:46 am – 5 mL

12:05 pm – 10 mL

12:20 pm – 30 mL

12:35 pm – 60 mL

12:37 pm – Sahil sneezed twice.  He also complained of itchiness in the roof of his mouth.

12:42 pm – Sahil had a slight runny nose.

12:52 pm – Itchy roof of mouth resolved.

1 pm – Still sniffling on & off.

2:30 pm – Dr Hanna assessed his airway, breathing and skin and then congratulated him on passing his oral challenge for soy!  She feels confident that after consuming just over 100 mL of soy milk today he should be able to tolerate all forms of soy.  (I will feel more confident once he has tolerated a few more servings of soy protein in different forms.)

We also discussed the peanut dosing protocol for when he is travelling since he will be going on the grade 8 trip to Montreal soon and to an overnight camp for the first time this summer.  Dr Hanna recommends the illness dose (0.5 peanut) while he is travelling and away from home.

Next steps:

Sahil has to incorporate soy protein into his regular diet as he has done with tree nuts.

He continues to eat 2 peanuts daily to maintain his tolerance and will return to Dr Mack and Dr Hanna for a peanut OIT follow up in April 2019.

2019!

I will miss spending time with Sahil at these marathon appointments.   He tells me stories about school, the music he likes, the shoes he wants and sometimes like today we binge watch shows and laugh out loud together.  Today we watched the hilarious Brooklyn Nine-Nine to pass the time between doses.

Of course, our family’s OIT journey continues and I will be back in the summer with Jaya.  She is stuck at 1 mL of milk and I hope to see her progress soon.

I started this blog to record our family’s experience with managing life threatening allergies and to chronicle our journey with oral immunotherapy.  I also share our experiences to spread food allergy awareness so I am honoured to be included on this list of Feedspot’s Top 40 Food Allergy Blogs to follow in 2018!

When I started blogging in February 2017, Sahil had just started Peanut OIT, and was avoiding tree nuts and soy protein.  My goal was to reduce the risk to Sahil so he could start high school in September 2018 without the stress of the constant vigilance needed to manage food allergies.

Freedom from food allergies was a dream to me.

Now, Sahil can freely eat most foods.  It has been a challenging journey but a worthwhile one.

He is still allergic to peanuts and must still carry his epi-pen but since he can tolerate 2 peanuts a day it is safe for him to eat food that is cross contaminated with peanuts. And by continuing the daily maintenance dose he may eventually be able to consume more.

I am so thankful to his allergists for their dedication to improving the quality of life for families managing food allergy.

I am so proud of Sahil for his commitment to daily doses and his courage during this journey.