Follow-Up on Injection

Today I took all three kids up to the hospital where Egypt had her injection 3 weeks ago. Doctor likes to check on progress, range of motion and to see if other joints have become affected. He says she's moving well. She's very active, so he didn't recommend physical therapy. I told him that she has recently had two different viruses and asked if I should be concerned. I thought maybe this meant her immune system was weak and she would be susceptible to more infections. He said no, that she just was one of those kids who picks up everything.

I also asked about her knee still looking swollen. I thought the initial swelling took longer than a week. He said the inflammation from the arthritis has caused her bones to grow quicker. She has a bigger bone mass on her right knee than her left knee. This also means that the bone is lengthening faster and her right leg is a bit longer. He showed me by laying her on her tummy and extending both legs out. Sure enough, I could see the length difference. You could also see it when he bent her knees up and the right knee extended farther than the left. Hopefully when (if) the arthritis goes away, it will correct itself.

Just glad that things are pretty normal (I'm not even sure what that looks like anymore. Normal for us is doctor appointments every week).

Distracting myself

I'm trying to distract myself from reality by sewing. Sounds dumb. But I've been wanting to sew and sell on etsy for quite a while. I've made several very nice pieces, but the weather's been so lousy I can't get outside to take pictures in natural light.

She looks so innocent. Her bouncy blonde curls. We already have an eye appointment tomorrow to check for eye disease. I was googling "JRA" and found out that the eye disease can be glaucoma, cateracts and infections. She has a 20% chance of developing inflammatory eye disease. There is a 40% chance of having serious long-term disabilities. There's a 20% chance it will go on to affect other joints. Now, every time she complains about something hurting, I'm moving that body part to see if it's swollen. She complained of her toe hurting just before bed, and I took off her pajamas to inspect it more closely. She complained of her elbow hurting at dinner; she couldn't climb into her high chair. I immediately checked the elbow movement. I'm going to become this totally paranoid mother.

So far, I can find nothing good about this. How will a blind child communicate with a deaf dad?