aundrea's rheumy visit. questions at end of post

June 9, 2006

Well naturally Aundrea was looking and feeling pretty good for her

appointment today...Why is it that the kids never have an appt. on

the days that they feel miserable?

Anyway, things went fairly well. He does want Aundrea rescreened for

lupus, although he said that he doesn't think that she probably has

it which would mean that he would be staying with a systemic jra

diagnosis. I am going to try and get labs done tomorrow and he

wants to see her back in 2 weeks.

He also said that she should stay out of the sun for the month of

June. He said that it increases her flares and can cause future

skin damage. (thinning of her skin) She goes to camp this week and

its in the nestled in the shade of pine trees, so at least that will

get one week out of the way! :-)

He said that we have three options...Start her on a treatment of

prednisone, restart mtx or wait til we get the labs back and then

decide. We went with holding off til the labs get back.

Surprisingly, Aundrea held up really well thru the whole visit...In

fact the dr. said that he can recognize that she seems stoic and

probably doesn't admit to pain...He sure has nailed that one on the

head. However, I did discuss with her the possibility of mtx and I

told her they have new drugs out that would make her not get the

stomach ache...she said ok and acted like that would work. I guess

at least it leaves a door open for us if we need it.

He said that she has systemic onset jra with rash with features of

dermatomyositis and photosensitivity.

Here are my questions...on the physical exam his notes states 1 plus

swelling in the PIP's and 2-3 mcp's.

He notes 6 swollen joints but doesn't state which ones they are.

skin states blotchy erythmema on the malar regions.

Can you guys clue me in as to what this means? I will keep you

posted on the lab results and what are next step is. Overall it was

a good day and Aundrea is doing pretty good.

Thanks for your well wishes today.

(aundrea 10 systemic jra/checking for lupus)

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