| Anna's JRA Journey July - September 2001 |
| July 2001 Anna saw the opthamologist on July 16, and her eyes remained clear! What a relief!!!! We also attended the American Juvenile Arthritis Organization (AJAO) regional conference in Boston, MA. We enjoyed this conference, and especially meeting the moms I've gotten to know on the Child Arthritis message board at ParentsPlace.com. While we were traveling (incorporating a vacation into our trip to Boston), Anna seemed to do well, although I noticed that she walked stiffly after riding in the car for longer periods of time. |
| August 2001 Anna had an appointment with the pediatric rheumatologist on August 8. Although Anna was not doing badly, he (the doctor) was concerned because Anna's left leg had continued to grow longer than her right. He wanted to try something different to get the active arthritis under control, so he took her off the Plaquenil and ibuprofen. (He told Anna she could throw that "awful medicine"--the Plaquenil--away!!--and we did it with ceremony that night--it WAS awful stuff.) He chose to try Trilisate. When I picked it up from the pharmacist, I tasted a drop, and thought it actually tasted rather pleasant (for medicine!). But Anna dubbed it the "new awful medicine". She cried for the first week every time we gave her the medicine (twice a day), but after that she settled in and just takes it. |
| September 2001 No appointments scheduled this month. However, Anna had been occasionally complaining that her tummy hurt (since beginning the Trilisate). So I e-mailed her doctor, who has decided to prescribe Zantac for the stomach. We haven't begun that yet, because Anna developed an infection and had to take Amoxicillan for seven days, and this was right after the doctor called in the Zantac prescription. I have a mental thing against a lot of medication, anyway, and I had a hard time mentally and emotionally forcing Anna to take three medications at once. She has only complained once about her tummy since then, and she took a Tums for it. We may begin the Zantac if she begins complaining more regularly again. I thought Anna was really doing well with the Trilisate, and that it was working well. I would play around with her legs, and her knee wasn't bothering her at all. However, in the past two days (it's Sept. 9 today), my husband and I have noticed some slight stiffness and favoring of the leg again--nothing really bad--just there. We go back to see the opthamologist on October 1, and the pediatric rheumatologist on October 17. |
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