Friday, September 23, 2011

Miss Beth

Miss Beth went to the orthopedic doctor today, who took another x-ray to rule out a break. Like the other two x-rays, this one was also normal.

He can't understand why she isn't better by now from a sprain (almost five weeks), so he ordered an MRI, which will take place on October 6th, unless she improves before then.

He scared me with more talk of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The fact that her hospital blood test didn't indicate this doesn't mean we're free to rule it out. Not all children with this auto-immune disease test positive via blood sample, especially in the early stages. Truthfully, an arthritis diagnosis would explain night waking with crying, indicating pain. It would explain morning stiffness, and the horrible after-nap mood she wakes with in the past few months.

Some children with rheumatoid arthritis grow out of it at or before puberty, depending on how many joints are affected. It usually affect joints in a symmetrical way, so the fact that only one knee is affected seems to make it unlikely, though in some cases it manifests this way at first.

It's a scary diagnosis no matter how you look at it. She wouldn't lead a normal life unless she was blessed enough to have a short-lived case--like several weeks or months.

Please pray?

1 comment:

Sandi said...

Will do for sure friend. Let us know when the time comes.