One of our beautiful princesses has recently been rediagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis We are praying for healing. We are also trying to make some diet changes to help her immune system. She was first diagnosed almost two years ago. I really didn't think about until as I was typing this that she had mentioned painful leg for months before her diagnosis. I assumed those were "growing pains" but now I see those are common early signs of JIA. In September 2014, she started limping some and saying her knee hurt. Then her knee got hot and swollen. I took her to the doctor who did lots of testing (which was pretty tough with James in Korea.) Her doctor referred her to orthopedics- we ran into a friend from USMA there! The Dr told me as long as she didn't get a fever they would just refer her for more tests. One Friday night, we went to a fall festival, put the kids to bed, and then I felt her hot forehead. 102 :( I called my good friend Hannah who is a nurse and asked what I should do. She said if the doctor told you to go to the ER, you go to the ER and then came and spent the night with the rest of the kids. It didn't take long to see a doctor and she told me KG was going to be admitted for at least two weeks. When I said that wouldn't work because 4 kids at home, hubby in Korea, she said they'd call his unit and have him sent home. I said that still won't work (unless it has to) She said we'd only go home if she had evidence of another minor infection. I'd never been so thankful to get that!! After some crazy loopy medicine and OK results from her knee aspiration test, we made it home about 4 am. So thankful for good friends- Hannah who stayed overnight with kids and Hillegonda who took kids to church so KG and I could sleep!
A few months later, KG had a steroid injection/ aspiration which worked great!! So thankful to Grandma for watching kids so I could take KG to Chapel Hill. Dr Wu is super. We are so glad to have such a great doctor- although we were so thankful in May 2016 to be discharged from care because she'd had no symptoms since JAN 2015- her recovery following the aspiration was textbook 48 hours and back good as new!! This August she started saying that her elbow hurt, then a little later she said her ankle hurt so back up to Chapel Hill. At least we have a great Dr! and an even greater God who is a Great Healer!!
We are also thankful for the JA Power Pack KG uses her bear every night when she goes to bed and sometimes during the day. She also uses her homemade heat pack from Heather.
There is no verse in the Bible that says God helps those who help themselves but He does want us to take care of our bodies so we are going to make some change to help KG (and us too!)
First off we're adding more fermented foods and trying to add best foods for arthritis. Our first fermented food was sauerkraut- which the kids all loved! I need a bigger jar! Then continuing to improve our health!! Here's some new recipes to try!!
