November 1, 2006

It has been a busy week, or weeks, or month for that matter.

First let me start of with the good new… well, there are three.
1. Sadie had been off her medications for a little over three weeks and during that period of time Sadie did not feel any worse than she did while on the medications. To me this is big… it means that she wasn’t suffering without medications and many other joints could have flared up, but we did not witness that.
2. Bill got a new job! Bill was very happy with his old employer and had a hard time leaving, but an opportunity came up that was too large to walk away from. What is great about this… better benefits. Medical cost in our family is an issue I don’t’ talk about on this site much, but those close to us know this is a HUGE issue… it RUNS our lives. God has answered a prayer with this job and we are feeling BLESSED. We have a while before those will kick in, but the light is shining and I can see it!
3. Sadie was approved for the starlight starbright foundation. This foundation is much like Make-a-Wish, but they don’t do big trips… they serve as support to families with children that are chronically/seriously ill. This will give us an opportunity to participate in many community events we have not had the money to afford in the past.

Now the updates. Sadie had her eyes checked again and once again they came out clear, four months before we go back. Then Sadie had her annual physical and we found out that in the year Sadie has grown two inches and lost ½ pound! Wow! Wouldn’t most of us like that problem. She is still 80% for her height and 60% weight, which she has been out for a long time! No flu shot yet, but looks like next week! Friday the 27th Sadie had an MRI of her ankles. She did a wonderful job during the MRI, she stayed still longer then I could have and just did a super job. They did the MRI without dye and then added dye. The dye helps them determine where the arthritis is specifically located. Then Saturday Sadie celebrated her 9th birthday! Monday the 30th we went back in to see Dr. Wallace with the hopes that we would be able to keep her off most of her medications. We expected to hear of some active arthritis in her ankle and some damage done (that is just obvious without the MRI). Unfortunately, that isn’t’ really all we heard.


Sadie’s ankle has a lot of joint damage, bone deterioration and some bone fusing (meaning the bones are attaching themselves together). She showed active arthritis in both her ankle joint (joint that allows you to move your foot up & down) and her sub-talar joint (side to side) this we all ready knew, but the MRI also showed damage and active dieses in her calcaneus, cuboid, cuneiforms and metatarsal joints and some signs of stress on her tibia and fibula (for a great lesson – google ankle bones or foot bones). Also there are some signs of cysts with-in the bone. The cysts basically are caused by active dieses actually penetrating the bone.. When we get the arthritis under control the cysts over time should correct themselves, but in the mean time can weaken the bone. Whew – did you catch all that?


In addition to all this news (which when given w/in 5 mins is a bit overwhelming) Dr. Wallace did her normal exam of Sadie. Dr. Wallace is more concerned with her neck at the moment. Sadie has been consistently complaining of neck pain (probably 4 or 5 days a week). The doctor also advised that although she isn’t feeling worse yet, if I was to give her another few weeks without medications she would be in horrible shape. I have to tend to believe her only because the MRI proves it. The problem with what she is dealing with is a few things: first, Sadie has a very high pain tolerance. Second, if we don’t get the active arthritis, quite, further joint damage will be done. It isn’t even a question of IF, it is when. So, that said… Sadie has had her anti-inflammatory medication (the only thing she stayed on during the last few weeks) increased. She has changed from methotrexate to another type of medication and she will start Remicade again tomorrow. We will try the Remicade for three months and then return to see if there has been any progress in her condition at all. The other thing that will happen is Monday (11/6) Sadie will go in for further joint injections. They will be injecting her ankle, sub-talar and Cuneiforms in hopes that this will help the inflammation.


I think this is all the medical news I have. In regards to the Jingle Bell Run – we are 54% to our goal. The team needs to raise an average of $62.65 a day to get to our goal by December 10th. I know we can do it!! If you are interested in joining, please contact me, we would LOVE to have you a part of our team.