Perspective

This is not our first rodeo.  We've seen almost every kind of "ologist" for a multitude of diagnosis over the last nine years.  It's whenever a new medical issue pops up that I am reminded of our laundry list of medical stuff going on in our family.  On paper, I sometimes get a little overwhelmed with all that has happened medically to our family.  I mean, really, the list is ridiculously long and makes me nutty when I look at it all on paper.  But, then I stop looking at the long list of "issues" and look at our day-to-day reality.  When we don't have medical appointments, we really do live a pretty normal family life.  Or, as normal as you can get with four small children.  We meet our deductible earlier in the year than most, give out some medication every morning and at bedtime, but in between that we don't live very different from most families of six I know, except for some speech therapy here and some occupational therapy there for the girls.  I want to try to remember this as we walk through the frustration of getting answers about Darah's new medical issues.  We are waiting on so much right now and the process of getting a diagnosis has been incredibly frustrating.  It's hard to turn my mind away from fear and worry and what has been a nightmare experience of getting answers and treatment.  But, if I change my perspective, in reality, we have a few new "ologists" on our calendar and will take a couple of trips to Houston that we did not plan on this summer; however, in between all that, our day-to-day lives haven't really changed.  Isn't that so much of our problem as humans?  Focused on the what-was, the what-if's, the fear of what's coming, the what's not, and missing the what-is right now?  I don't know if that makes any kind of sense.

While we wait and try to live as normally as we can, all signs continue to point to Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.  Boo.  Darah's anti-inflammatory medication she has started hasn't decreased any of her swelling or minimized the masses on her hands, but THANKFULLY AND MOST IMPORTANTLY it has appeared to help with pain.  Praise God for that!  We have an ophthalmology appointment scheduled in a couple of weeks to check for a couple of eye issues that sometimes accompany Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.  We continue to wait for a rheumatology appointment.  She is scheduled with one in Austin at the end of August and we are waiting and hoping that one in Houston can get her in sooner than that.  I have been frustrated and concerned about the time-frame for actually getting in to rheumatology, but there's nothing more I can do to speed that up right now.  Please continue to pray for healing for our girl and for DJ and I to remember that right now, all really is ok.