JRA for TMJ

I went to my first JRA informational meeting on Saturday. Two of the kids stayed and did crafts and pet an aligator in another room (I would love to have seen that!) while I listened to a doctor talk about the effects of arthritis and TMJ. He had amazing before and after pictures of patients with jaw problems. Basically if you have TMJ resulting from arthritis, there is mandibular hypomobility and loss of posterior face height. Several of the patients were from Guatamala and Ecuador, so obviously the chance of early detection and treatment is not as high as in the States. But it was scary to see what could happen - when the condyle erodes away, the chin disappears, the cheeks puff up and you cannot close your mouth without straining.

But I learned some new vocabulary in the process: ginglymodiarthrodial; condyle reconstruction surgery; and arthrocentesis. Don't ask me to explain them. We just hope we never have to deal with this!

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis information

You would never guess by looking at her that Egypt has Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. The injection yesterday has given her complete use of her knee again. The swelling is still apparent, but she is active again and very happy. I've felt the need to give out more information about JRA, because whenever I've explained to people over these past few weeks that my daughter has arthritis, they look at me like I'm nuts. "That's an old people's disease!" they declare. "Are you sure your doctor didn't mean bursitis?" So here is a link to more information about how many children (an estimated 300,000children in the U.S.) are affected by some form of arthritis or rheumatic disease.

There is also a Race for CARRA (Childhood Arthritis & Rheumatology Research Alliance) coming up on June 8th, if you're in Portland, Oregon. The doctor treating Egypt is on the board of this organization. Find a link to CARRA's website here and here's a link to the fundraising race/walk on June 8th. The cutie who is the "grand marshall" this year was diagnosed with systemic arthritis 3 years ago. It affected her entire body within three days of onset. Please consider either joining the race/walk or donating to this very important research.