Another appointment with the rheumatologist yesterday, and another cortizone injection. Right knee this time. Anna was hobbling around yesterday (and we tried our best to make sure she had a quiet day--I think she watched two movies in the afternoon, but then she did help a little with cleaning the house for a bit--all without putting any weight on that newly injected knee---she said she could feel it if she tried to, and it "felt like she probably shouldn't." Good for her for "listening" to her body!). Today, she had another easy day, watching the 4-hour "Gettysburg" movie with her brother, her dad, and a family friend (annual tradition around this time of year in this household--but I went shopping!)
The MRI from June 21st shows active disease in the right TMJ, so another injection will be scheduled soon. Anna needed a clearance from the rheumatologist to run cross country this fall, and that was no problem. She's been running a little bit every day, except for yesterday and today, of course. She's pretty much "good to go" for right now, so she can work on her summer mileage again next week.
No change in medication for right now. The injections are probably the best way to deal with the current mild-but-active joint disease. Anna very rarely feels any pain even with active disease, so the mild-but-active disease doesn't bother her physically. (That's certainly something to be thankful for! I know that for many other kids, this is not the case.) We go back to the ophthalmologist in about two weeks, so we'll find out then how the eyes are doing.
On our own, we've "tweaked" a few things in this past week. Anna has been taking all of her oral medications and supplements before bedtime, but we're changing that a little, so that she's not taking calcium at the same time as anything else. A cousin (who works in a pharmacy) was telling me recently that calcium supplements absorb a lot of whatever else is taken with it at the time. So I'm wondering (after thinking about this for several weeks) if the calcium has been decreasing the effectiveness of the Methotrexate, maybe. It's worth a try to make some changes accordingly, even if I don't know for sure if this is truly the case in Anna's situation.
It's so hard to believe that the summer is almost half over! We've been very busy! Anna and I will be going to the beach with our church's youth group later this week. We love the beach, and we're looking forward to this time away!
