14th Visit to Duke

We went to the Duke Clinical Research Unit yesterday.  It was our 14th trip, and our first visit of 2010.  We're in the maintenance phase so the purpose of our visit was not to get a dosage increase, but for our 3rd round of testing.  It was a short visit, but a full one. Abigail had a skin prick test, about 7 vials of blood drawn and a saliva sample taken.  All that warranted 3 escalator rides, 1 for each test, when we were done!

Let me start by saying that Abigail did absolutely fabulous!!  Not one complaint!  I did think it was cute when Abigail asked the nurse if she would only stick her once (last time it took 2 tries).  She also watched and even helped change out the vials.  I was very impressed and very proud.  I should also thank the nurses.  They're pros and their no nonsense approach really helps.

Abigail's skin prick test results were much worse than the time before.  I do remember being told to expect the results to get worse before they get better so I'm not sure why the results of her 2nd prick test were much better than the 1st or the 3rd.  I also had the opportunity to talk with our doctor about the food challenges.  They've done 10 so far.  He couldn't share specific results with me, but he did say that they were feeling good about what they were seeing.  He also told me that based on what they were seeing, there was no plan to make any modifications to the study protocol.

There were a couple of other eventful happenings at this visit.  I was able to meet another mom that I've been communicating with for several weeks.  Her daughter was at Duke for her very first visit.  She and I have been e-mailing back and forth discussing all aspects of the trial.  She's had lots of questions, and I was able to give her a good amount of information.  I'm hoping our discussions have been helpful as her family starts the journey to becoming peanut allergy free!

Another really cool part of our visit to Duke was that my mom came with us.  Abigail and I loved having her spend the morning with us.  After our appointment, we took Abigail to a birthday lunch at CiCi's Pizza and surprised her by having both my dad and sister meet us there.  By the way, none of CiCi's products contain peanuts, are made with peanut oil or processed in a plant with peanuts.

All in all, it was a great trip.  We don't have another appointment scheduled until the first of April when we go to discuss the details of our food challenge in May.  We've got a long way to go yet, but I'm overcome with how blessed we are to be a part of this trial.