PT Update

Today's session was disappointing.

Mia would not let Mary do hardly any massages or stretches. That is not like Mia. Normally, she will sit there for at least 20 minutes and play with the toys while Mary applies moist heat and does some massage therapy to her leg, elbow and ankle. Not today. Every time we tried, Mia would pull away and cry...like she used to do four months ago. At one point during some exercises on her knee, Mia said "Ouch!" and refused to let Mary work on her leg any more. So, Mary didn't want to push her because, obviously, she is in pain. Needless to say, we've had better sessions than the one we had today.

She also has more fluid than normal on her knee again. There is a pocket of fluid below her patella (quite squishy to the touch) and her knee is larger than normal. For the last month or so, we were able to see the definition in Mia's kneecap. But, today it just looked big and puffy again. I think Mary was as disappointed as I was! We've seen Mia's joints better than they were today.

Tonight's assignment: get that fluid down as much as possible before she meets with the rheumatologist tomorrow morning. While we are to continue with our at-home massage therapy on her joints, Mary wants us to focus more on her mobility before tomorrow's appointment. Mia's knee is bent again and doing simple exercises like marching and getting her knees up really high or kicking a ball to help fully extend her left knee will not only help straighten it, but it will also help reduce the fluid.

So, I am a bit bummed.

And I have a lot to pray about.

I was really hoping to "wow" the doctor tomorrow. I am still believing she will have 100% improvement before tomorrow's appointment. And I am praying that tomorrow's storm doesn't add to any pain she may already be experiencing.

Our next steps: We are going to get a pH balance test to check Mia's alkaline level to see if her body is too acidic. A pH of 7.365 is the ideal environment in which micro-organisms remain in harmony with the body. When the body becomes too acidic it interferes with life itself, leaving the body open to virtually all sickness and disease. The main reason why a body becomes too acidic is the WRONG foods are consumed - primarily, refined sugars and refined carbohydrates (gluten). There are several signs of long-term acidity in the body - arthritis being one of them. Basically, it comes down to this: when you increase your tissue acid with an acidic lifestyle and diet you increase your pain. When you decrease your tissue acid with an alkaline lifestyle and diet you decrease your pain. So, once we do the test we will be able to see if Mia's body is more acidic than it should be. If it is, then we will take the proper steps to help neutralize the acidity in her body.

Please pray: for wisdom for Jay and myself as we meet with the doctor tomorrow. He is going to want to discuss steroid treatments again tomorrow, which we plan to turn down. Also, please pray that we will know what the next step is for Mia's treatment - we have several options we are considering at the moment.

"I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths" (Proverbs 4:11, NIV).

"So now you can pick out what's true and fair, find all the good trails! Lady Wisdom will be your close friend, and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion. Good Sense will scout ahead for danger, Insight will keep an eye out for you. They'll keep you from making wrong turns, or following the bad directions" (Proverbs 9-10, The Message Bible).