No news is good news

Whew! LONG DAY! We just got home from the Pediatric Rheumatologist. We don't really have any big new news... but I'm calling that good news. They are still calling "it" reactive arthritis due to strep infection. Even though the strep is gone, she said it could last about 3 more weeks. Because this can last for about 6 weeks total they can't look past this option until we are out of that time frame. IF - but this won't happen - IF it's still a problem in 3-4 weeks we will go back and revisit all the possibilities. In the meantime he has more of the same - rest, relaxation, and now stretching - with an added muscle relaxer. The pain he feels is not causing any damage - it's just an unfortunate effect. Most of the pain is actually coming from muscles and tendons (she thinks) so the muscle relaxers should help. They also might knock him out... but we will see. The only immediate concern is rheumatic fever. It hasn't been completely ruled out and it is very likely that he could still get it - IF we aren't proactive. But we are! SO he will get 1 shot every 28 days for the next 6 months. Not fun - but not bad considering the alternative...

We got one piece of really good news and that is about his sed rate... We knew it was higher Monday at 52 than when this started [at 49]... however, we learned that when he was tested in the ER it was 77! No wonder the child couldn't walk! SOOOOOOOO 52 is MUCH lower than 77 which shows this could be on it's way out. We also learned that his ASO titer was 1600 in the ER. A normal healthy child has an ASO of about 300. This is the number that indicates the presence of strep...or something like that... and is how they know he had strep for quite some time.

Bottom line... continue treating as reactive arthritis. Take the muscle relaxers to help with pain (along with the Naproxen) and wait a couple of weeks. I choose to believe this is the answer and he will be completely healed soon.