We had our first visit to Scottish Rite Hospital today and it went great! Harper was diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis. We are still uncertain of what type of arthritis but we have some sort of diagnosis. She had some more lab work done today and hopefully we will have a complete diagnoses soon. I am pleased with that!
Treatment:
Cody and I will have to give Harper a shot of Methotrexate (switching from her leg to her arm) once a week. This could go on for a couple of years. Along with that she is taking a certain type of steroid to help the swelling go down and to help her regain some strength. She will only be on that for a couple of months. She is also taking Folic Acid and a higher strength anti-inflammatory medicine. We go back to see the doctor in April to see how she is doing on the medication.
We should see a little improvement within the next week or two. She should hopefully be able to at least pull up by herself. Once she gets some strength back we will begin physical therapy to help her start walking. This could be at least another 3-4 months.
She will have blood drawn about every 6-8 weeks to make sure everything is okay. They will also have to check her liver and spleen as well.
There are no predictions as to whether she will have this for the rest of her life but our goal right now is to keep the arthritis calm, get the swelling down and get her to walk. This could take a while. After that the doctors want her to be in remission for one year before we start talking about taking her off the medication. Again this could be years.
Cody and I are relieved that we are finally getting some answers and can breath a little easier now. Harper of course is doing wonderful. She has been an angel this whole process and I couldn't be any more thankful for such an easy little girl.
1 comment:
Glad they have finally given you some kind of diagnosis and plan of action. You must feel like such a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.
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