Wednesday of this week we were off to Duke again for our bi-weekly visit. I believe it's visit number 11. It was very much a routine visit except that Abigail and I got one really good piece of news. We are just 3 more visits away from being on the maintenance dose. Once we hit the maintenance stage of the study, our visits are no longer bi-weekly, but will be monthly and then every 8 weeks. That's pretty exciting for a family that drives a 300 mile day trip every other week.
By the first of December, Abigail will be taking 8 drops of the highest extract concentrate given in this study. Here's the study protocol for the maintenance stage:
Maintenance
During the maintenance phase, your child will receive 2000 micrograms of the study extract (crude peanut extract or placebo) daily for 24 weeks at home. Your child will continue to avoid peanuts and tree nuts in his/her diet for the duration of the study. Your child will return to the Duke Clinical Research Unit every 1-4 months for a follow up history and physical exam for the duration of the study in addition to the scheduled food challenges.
After 24 weeks we'll return for the food challenge where Abigail will be challenged up to 5 grams of peanuts (approximately 8 peanuts). That sounds like an impossibility to me right now, and frankly, pretty scary. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, we're celebrating that soon we'll not have to go so frequently!
