Ashleys JRA Story

Hi everyone. Ashley was diagnosed with JRA when she was around 2 1/2 years old. Like alot of out kids it started out as a limp that never went away. After about 6 weeks of limping I had the doctor run a sed rate and ANA test. When the sed rate came back elevated we went to a pediatric rheumatologist. That was when our lives changed forever... Ashley is pictured here with her friend Owen from school on " Color Day."
She was started off on methotrexate and motrin for pain and inflammation. That controlled her symptoms for a long time. After a small growth spurt the methotrexate did not work on it's own anymore so we added enbrel to the mix. That combo worked wonders and about a year ago she was taken off the methotrexate. The enbrel was controlling things so well that her doc decided to try and stretch out the enbrel shots. We started with moving the shots to every 10 days. Then we moved them to every two weeks. When we attempted to move them to every three was when this latest flare began. I have to say that this disease makes our kids stronger than most. They are more able to deal with and have a better understanding of peoples differences. I am very proud of all our little angels. I had JRA as a child and know that this is a difficult disease to deal with. I have been in remission now for a long time..

Journal

Friday, November 4, 2005 2:40 PM CST

Hi everyone...

It's been a while since I have had the time to post a journal update.. Ashley is now in 1st grade. We had a awesome summer of being on no meds what-so-ever, then school started. We are having pains in the left knee again. I took her to the pedi who conferenced with Dr. Rothman and it was decided to put her back on the Naproxen for a little while. They are hoping that a viral infection she has caused a little flare and the Naproxen will take care of it. It does not seem to be helping much though as her ankles, shoulders and chest hurts occasionally too.. We have a few weeks left on the Naproxen so time will tell.. I will try to update this more often..

Hugs to all,
Emilie

Read Journal History

Hospital Information:

Dr. Deborah Rothman Shriners Hospital
516 Carew Stq
Springfield, Ma, 01104-2396
1-413-787-2027

Links:

E-mail Author: Emilie656@earthlink.net

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