Anime Update

Anime doesn't complain about her health very often so if she says she doesn't feel well I tend to take it seriously. For about the last week and a half she's been very tired, going to bed extremely early, and has looked more pale than usual. Tuesday night she started running a fever. Wednesday found us back at the doctor's office.

Now to back up a little. Monday found us back for a re-check with the orthopedist. She has improved range of motion in her knee but the pain level is still high. This time the doctor listened when I recounted the differential diagnosis of post-strep arthritis (he ignored me telling him this the last time we were there). He's now decided that he is quite likely the wrong doctor for us to be seeing, as he deals with sports injuries and nothing else. He ordered an MRI of her knee to rule out anything that may have been missed there and then wrote orders for what seems like twenty-million different things to be tested via blood work. He plans to get the results in, compare with all of the blood work done last February, and refer us on to the appropriate physician.

So we ventured to the hospital bright and early (6:30 AM!) on Tuesday for the MRI and to our regular doctor on Wednesday for all of the blood work. When I picked up Anime at school to head out for the blood work, she complained of having trouble breathing. Since we were there already, I simply told the receptionist her symptoms and asked if they could squeeze us in. They did and . . . walla! She has bronchitis! So in addition to having to wear a knee-brace (a shiny new bendable one now versus the immobilizer she was in) she's now taking antibiotics and using an inhaler.

My asthma was very bad as a kid and I used my inhaler(s) often. I even used a nebulizer for a bit of time. I hate the thought that any of my children might need an inhaler. I have done whatever I can to make sure their bodies are healthy and strong because I didn't want their childhoods to be like mine . . . an uncountable number of asthma attacks and continuous bouts of bronchitis and pneumonia. I'm wishing and hoping that the inhaler will not be a continual thing for Anime. I don't think it will as she's never shown any signs of asthma.

We're on the hunt now, for whatever it is that seems to have knocked her immune system down and is causing all of the pain. Even if it is determined, once again, that it is post-strep arthritis, then I will push for some type of treatment for her, because she just hasn't been healthy since that initial attack of strep 13 months ago. I can't believe that there isnt' something that could be done to help her feel better.