September 12, 2010

Just a couple updates about Sadie. She had her joint injections on the 25th and felt really well after the injections. It was the fastest in/out of the hospital that I remember. By the next day she was having some pain, but we felt it was just from the injections; extra fluid in her joint, etc. She just laid low that day and by the following day she realized that the pain was not from the injections, but was new. Prior to injection her entire ankle “aches” and the top of her foot is very painful, but after injections she has having shooting pain up her food starting at her heel. I had some personal theories on this and presented those to the rheumatology nurse by phone a few days later. My first theory was that maybe the injections did what they were meant to do and reduced swelling, but in that process made the bone on bone pain more apparent. My second theory was that when the injections were being done the doctors jarred something with the injection needled. Due to the fact her bones are not all where they are “suppose” to be this seems logical to me. The nurse in rheumy asked in a perfect world what I would see done at this point and my response was “Dr. W and Dr. M would discuss her face to face rather than via email”.

That is what happened - both docs did discuss her and both doctors called me personally to discuss with me their thoughts, feelings, plans, etc. Both also agreed that either theory or a combination of both could be the case. The plan at this point is to “simulate fusion” – this will be done by placing Sadie in a non-weight bearing cast for 4-8+ weeks. If the cast reduces pain, then fusion will likely work. If it does not reduce pain, fusion will likely fail. So the cast will possibly be placed on as soon as the 24th.

In other news Sadie came down with another cough (much like the one she had in January) and we took her to the doctor after 5 days of no improvement and very little sleep. She was put on antibiotics again and given strong cough meds to take at night. We are at day six of antibiotic and there has been some improvement during the day the nights are horrible. Last night being the worst. I think she finally fell asleep around 4:30 and as I type this at 12:30 in the afternoon she is still sleeping. The cough has taken her mind off her ankle a bit which she says is not really a good trade.

Please pray for the cough to improve; we might end up back at the doctors this week over this cough… it’s really horrible. Not to mention that she started middle school (which she loves) this week and has been having to use all her energy to get through the day (3-4 hours of sleep isn’t really cutting it).

More in time….