February 24, 2009

We had great news today at the docs and overall feel like we can breathe a bit (maybe I will sleep a bit too). I really wanted to update Sunday about how amazing she was doing. She knew when she got home Friday the crutches would go and on her own she set them aside. We worked most of that evening on just taking a few steps and massage (which really hurt that night). Saturday she got better and better (with walking) as the day went on and obviously she took it slow and easy, but did a great job when she had too. Sunday she again, did good and even had to walk a little further than we would have expected at one point. We even stopped at PAWS on the way home knowing that she couldn’t resist going in and that got her moving even more. We did more touch therapy and did some foot bath with bubbles (which actually was painful for her at first). I was all ready to post all this great news when she took a fall down the stairs and was in a lot of pain and immediately regressed and started hopping (on one foot) rather than walking and crawling. Over time we convinced (or forced) her to walk again and then within an hour she took another fall. Part of the falling was due to the fact she was trying to be very careful and part of it was the fact that she still didn’t have all the feeling back in her foot. She was pretty sure she never wanted to try again, but Monday morning she got herself up and got moving right away and had a very, very good day. Over dinner she even thought maybe her pain level had dropped from a 6 to a 5 which was the first time in weeks her pain level had decreased.

Today, she woke up feeling good and was walking really well, she does have a bit of a limp and is defiantly favoring part of her foot to walk on, but she was doing it and for the most part with level pain. We went into Dr. W today and she was really glad to see how well Sadie is doing, however, is very concerned with the amount of swelling that was present even with the low dose prednisone. We discussed the great progress she is making and she agreed that physically she is better, but that the swelling has to be addressed. At that point we talked about options (which were several) and came up with the best plan. Dr. W believes we are still dealing with some RND issues and some arthritic issues within the joint. So, she has extended the prednisone a bit longer, but still a very low dose. We have amended the Remicade infusions back to every four weeks and have added more supplements (more calcium, more vitamin D, etc). She gave us some exercises to do at home and would like Sadie to be in the pool swimming laps 3-5 times a week. We are working on figuring that out now, but we do have a few options, which is great! With the adjustment to the Remicade she will go in on March 13th and then she will be seen again by Dr. W in April. If Sadie does do the swim and home exercises she should not need physical therapy and that will be determined based on how her body responds to the plan that we have laid out.

We talked a lot about the inflammation in the bone – long term issues, monitoring, etc and overall I feel much better than I did as I have been very worried about this issue. We did discuss the mis-communications over the last few weeks and also we discussed the possibility of RND being a future factor and how to handle that. Ultimately I finally feel like I have good, solid answers and a good solid plan!

I am very pleased with today and feel like this was a huge answer to prayer… seriously feel a little light on my feet! The fact we went from considering tons of daily therapy to getting Sadie active in the pool along with some home exercises and tweaking a few other things is a huge differences. Thanks to all who have been praying for Sadie, for the doctors, for our family… we are soooooo grateful and thanks for all the comments for Sadie. I have to say I am so grateful for the internet.