New Doctor's Appointments, A Good Day

We had Mary's second appointment today. Dr. Vega said she does not believe it is Systemic! :D We are very happy about that. She diagnosed her with ERA/JIA. (Read the following link for more information on what this means.)

What is ERA/JIA?

I love that they get us back quickly, they are now being friendly to us (the nurses, all but one who just seems to be miserable with life and stays in a perpetually bad mood), and that Dr. Vega does a physical everytime she sees Mary. She also listens to us and has no problem explaining things, which I love in a doctor! We need more that are willing to do that.

So after seeing Mary and diagnosing her with ERA, we talked about medicine. Dr. Vega and Mary decided on the tablet regime vs the shot. Mary wasn't exactly up for more pain, no matter how small. So she will be taking:

Leflunomide (20mg/day),
Prednisone (20mg/day),
Meloxicam (7.5mg/day),
Rantidine (75mg/day)
and a daily D3 vitamin.

I'm hoping that Dr.Vega will be referring her to her OT soon, but I totally forgot to even bring it up this afternoon. :/ Next appointment then.

I made it a point to check Clara out of school with Mary today and take her with us to see Dr. Vega. I just couldn't fathom waiting until August for Clara to be seen by her. Clara was hurting today, so I wheeled her into the exam room with Mary. I told Dr. Vega that Clara was being looked at for JIA as well by her Pediatrician and had been referred to her. I told her that they gave us an August appointment, and expressed my concerns for her having to wait so long. I do not want her ankle to lock up as Mary's wrist did. She was in agreement with that and said she will give Clara an emergency appointment, hopefully in the second week of May. I would be jumping for joy and happy, but I will wait to exert the energy when I get the call with a new date. I do appreciate her being just as concerned though. I wish she had looked at her today, but I understand she is very busy. She was having to sneak bites of her lunch in between patients already. :(

Kathryn was a mess today. As was Aiden, (Our two year old son). I won't be surprised to find out in 3 years that Aiden has ADHD as well, I'm telling you what. Those two individually are a handful, having meltdowns at the same time is more than we can handle even together sometimes.

I took Kat off of her sleeping meds over the weekend, (I can't remember if I wrote that on here or not), because it was making her night terrors worse. So I just gave her a break over the weekend. I don't know if that had anything to do with the horrible behavior the last part of yesterday and all of today, or not, but tonight I gave in and gave her just her Clonidine. I am part of ADHD/Autism/ChildAnxiety Support Groups on FB and I had a lady tell me that her child got worse on both meds together too, but she did great on just the Melatonin. So tomorrow night we will try just the Melatonin. She has already woken up once tonight crying. It was easier to get her to calm down and go back to sleep though, which was nice.

Clara and Mary have both been hurting badly in their backs, their ankles, their knees and their hips, as well as having bad headaches. Their pain level most days has been staying between 5-10, mostly it's on up there. That's why they changed Mary from Naproxen to Meloxicam. The Naproxen just wasn't helping anymore. She was getting upset because she had to take it and it was pointless to her. I really hope this new medicine helps her.

The girls all have a day off from doctor's appointments tomorrow! I don't know how it happened, lol, but they do. A full day of no one poking, or endless questions. Tomorrow is Mommy's turn. I have my first consultation with my Bariatric Surgeon. I'm excited and a bit nervous. I'm not sure what to expect. I think that I've just grown so used to it being the kids going to the doctor, that I'm kind of anxious about it being me, lol! Ah well, it's the beginning of my new self. :) I can't wait.

I have started pressing shirts again. I made one for Mary to wear today, one for Kat (she also wore it today), one for Aiden, one for Clara (hers is for Field Day and has her school name on it, so it won't be posted here) and one for me to wear tomorrow and then another to wear after my surgery. I'll post them here.

(My shirts, obviously)

                                     

 (Aiden's Hulk Shirt)

 (Mary's JA Shirt)

(Kat's ADHD Princess Shirt)

I really enjoy making shirts. I'm glad I did these. I hope I can pick it up again. There are lots of kids out there that I'm sure would love to have a shirt that speaks for them. :)