We ARE Overcoming!

Mia had her scan-o-gram done this morning at NEMC. She did a very good job and hardly even cried! We will get the results back in the next day or so.

In other news, we are VERY HAPPY to announce that Mia's sedimentation rate is back down to normal!! When she was initially diagnosed this past October, her sed rate was very high (41), which was one of the indicators that there was inflammation (arthritis) in her body. A normal sed rate is below 19. Mia's sed rate is currently at 15!! Praise God!!!

Dr. Lopez said her range looks great. She still has some fluid on her left knee and in several of her toes and her right elbow isn't as straight as it should be. But, overall, he was very pleased with the progress she has been making. So, we asked him that since her sed rate is back down to normal if she is in "remission" now, but he said "no" because there is still some fluid on the joints and that there is no way to test if arthritis has left the body or not.

Right now, his main concern is that she still has a very low hematocrit level. He told us it is one thing when your iron level is low, but when your hematocrit is low, as well, this is cause for some concern. So, he put her on a prescribed iron supplement three times a day for the next month. He said that putting her on something like a Flintstones multi-vitamin with iron isn't enough because her levels are so low that they need to "jump start" her levels again to help get her to where she needs to be. He was very thrilled to hear she is eating her spinach, though (see "Going Green"). :)

The other thing that was very low was Mia's ferritin levels. She should be at 15 and she was below 5. So, that needs to come back up, too.

After the appointment, he sent us to the lab to have them do more blood work (EIGHT vials!!!) to test for many different things to find out why her levels are so low. Her three stool samples from this past weekend came back negative for G.I. bleeding, but he said that doesn't mean there isn't bleeding in the lining which could be why her levels are so low. The other reason why her levels may be low is because she could have a blood disorder where her red blood cells are attacking one another. So, they are checking into it and we will get those results back soon.

He said she does not have to wear the leg brace right now, but wants us to continue with the naproxen. Since she is still on the naproxen, he also put her on Zantac to help with her stomach lining just in case there is any future G.I. bleeding.

We go back for a follow-up appointment on 7/23/08 where they will check her levels again. All-in-all it was a very good appointment. At the end of the appointment we spoke with him about the communication issues and he said that from here on out we should just call him directly. And to just call him even if we are unsure about something. Despite the communication issues that occurred this past month, he is a very good doctor. Mia really loves him and he is great with her. We also signed a waiver allowing him to email us with any important information. So, from here on out, even if I get a call from the pediatrician instructing us to do something that Dr. Lopez told him to tell us to do, I am still going to call Dr. Lopez to make sure this is what he wants us to do. Better safe than sorry!

Up next: Since her sed rate is normal now, we are going to try to slowly start adding things back into her diet in the next couple of weeks to see if the cause of the inflammation was diet-related. This should be interesting!!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for Mia (and us). We are seeing God's Word working mightily in her body. And a very special "thank you" to Mia's dear friend, Alizée, who dropped to her knees in her living room this morning and started to pray for her friend! God definitely heard her prayer!! :)