April & July Update

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It seems like the time gets away from me so quickly. I seriously have ZERO idea of where summer has gone! It seems like just yesterday we were at our last appointment in April and here we are in July! I really wish I would keep up with this blog more because I feel like this is my place to vent where other families actually know what I am talking about. With that being said, there is an amazing support group on Facebook called Mothering Juvenile Arthritis. The support there is one of the best I have seen. There are people there from all over America dealing with the same issues we all are. Every topic is discussed and there are so many other understanding individuals there that it is nice to know that we are all a community and that we are in this together.

April

Ok, so here we go. In April, we saw Dr. Johnson at Carrie Tingley and as far as Madison, everything was good. He did blindside us when he told us he was MOVING to Arizona to be closer to family. We kind of knew this was coming because he had told us previously that his wife moved, but he wasn't too sure if he was moving or not. Anyway, he let us know that he would be back one week a month to see his patients. Here is where I started freaking out. When we go to his office regularly, the wait time is about 2-3 hours. I really don't mind because I know how thorough he is with his patients. What I was not ok with was the fact that he would have to see a month's worth of patients in one week! That was a very scary thought to me. As a family, we decided that we would try to come back to ABQ for the appointments and if that wasn't working out for us, we would take the 4 hour trip to Arizona every 3 months to visit him.

When we visited Madison's ophthalmologist, Dr. Leenheer, Madison had some eye inflammation :( Dr. Leenheer was not too sure that it was uveitis just yet, so she told us to give Madison Ground Flax Seed and Omega 3 vitamins daily and she would see her in 4 weeks. This was a scary time for me because I did not want Madison to end up with more medication than she was already on, but thankfully when we went back, the inflammation had cleared. Dr. Leenheer thinks that it may have just been allergies that caused the inflammation. Madison is definitely a fighter!

July

This brings us to July. Since we saw Dr. Leenheer in May for the extra check-up, we won't see her again until next month. And may I just add that I am so grateful for her. She is an amazing eye doctor that genuinely cares about her patients. She is one of Madison's favorites!

I received a call back in June that Madison had an appointment scheduled at Carrie Tingley with Dr. Boone (Ah, I wish I would have got her 1st name!). Of course we took the appointment, but I was apprehensive at first. A new doctor is scary! When we got there, we were called back right away. This was already a great sign! We saw a Nurse Practitioner first and she was amazing. She explained how things were going to work, she got Madison's history and gave her an overall check-up. Madison really adored her so we were happy to know that she would be there all the time! She then went and got Dr. Boone. Dr. Boone is from California and she will also be traveling to NM one week a month to see patients at Carrie Tingley. She was also so wonderful. She was very thorough and also answered every question that we had about Madison. She also said that Madison had NO active arthritis!!! We have been praying and praying for this! We are going to slowly lower Madison's dosage of Methotrexate every two months until she is completely off in hopes of remission in about a year.

Madison is truly a fighter. This has been such a long and stressful journey, but Madison has never given up. I am not even sure that she is fully aware of her situation because she is so young, but I explain to her what it is and why we take her medicine. She seems to understand and is so eager to not take her Methotrexate anymore. We still have a long road to take, but we are going to reach our destination!

Parents, never give up hope. Your little one is fighting a battle and with your love and support, they will conquer and succeed. Stay strong-we are all in this together!