First her blood work showed her body was responding positively to the emotional, detoxifying, pharmacological and dietary treatments. The inflammation markers in her blood came down, even during a double ear infection last year. Her limbs shrunk and she moved with more ease.
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| The hike when she first showed difficulty walking. |
She has been seen by a beloved chiropractor (Maimonides Chiropractics) regularly since she was a newborn. It started with cranial-sacral therapy to help her sleep and nurse as a tiny baby. Our chiropractor did her work on L's skull while I nursed her. I could feel her jaw shift and settle into a more comfortable place while she sucked. It was phenomenal! The point is that our chiropractor, Dr Erica, has seen L through a lot since birth. When L was about 3, around 2 years ago, we went in for more help. Instead of a list of things needing help, L just got a simple adjustment. I nearly cried when Dr Erica said, "This girl has turned a corner." And indeed, she had.
Over time her disposition changed from grumpy and touchy to happy. She was more content and at peace, at least in part because she was not in pain all the time. I might be grumpy too if my body hurt all the time.
Once the pain and inflammation were under control we discovered we have a monkey daughter. She loves to climb and is quite the acrobat. We attended a birthday party at My Gym where the kids play physical games and tumble around. She was in heaven! A staff member led them in a game where they run in a large circle, one child at a time. During her turn, while she ran around the circle, they all chanted her name. Again, I teared up and remembered with gratitude that the days of no walking or limping were behind us. She limped for over a year and that was no more.
People at church commented at how wonderful it is to see her walking better because they had noticed that she used to walk with a limp. Once again, this mama almost cried. Sigh. I feel so grateful that others see her progress and joy.
Early on in this journey we attended a few Arthritis Foundation events to connect with other families and gain knowledge. I thought, maybe this could be an empathetic community from which we could learn from veterans. I learned many valuable nuggets but it was not the experience I expected. At one of the first events, a mother attended and her daughter was in a wheelchair. At that point, L was on methotrexate (a chemo drug) to alleviate the inflammation. This mom told me pessimistically, "When that stops working they will put your daughter on X drug. When that stops working they will put her on a different class of drug, Y. When that stops working the next drug is Z, which is extremely painful to administer." This was not comforting. I had to use my "Bubble of Peace" to tell myself that is their experience and that does not mean it will be ours. When I asked the presenting doctors and researchers about treatments outside of pharmaceuticals, they had nothing for me. It felt like I had read more about diet or lifestyle changes and their effect on autoimmune disease than they had. That may not be true but they could not tell me anything that I couldn't read on my own, so I stopped attending.
L had been selected as a Spotlight Patient at a Arthritis Foundation Fundraiser. We were going to do it to help raise funds and share our story very early on in treatment. We moved forward wit this plan Then something absolutely fascinating happened. During a session of energy medicine (more on that later, I promise), the therapist spoke with me about the value of letting go of the label and identity of "having JRA". She explained that this identity and strong link to this community of unhealthy people was holding L back from seeing herself as a healthy person. She was only 2 and a half year old, mind you. So, the therapist helped us work on letting go of this identity and label. Within a couple weeks the Arthritis Foundation event was canceled and we haven't worked with them since. I fully acknowledge that this was no coincidence. As L and I made positive changes in ourselves, things moved into their proper place around us. I believe God made it easier for us to move forward in a positive direction by having this event canceled and I didn't have to confront it myself. Each person's journey is their own to live, and so we focused on Team Ondricek and no one else's story.
Whoa... Phew.... that was a long tangent. Thanks for sticking with me. You are patient. Gracias.
I'm grateful to document these little moments along the journey and thankful for progress, even if the road is messy and crooked. Thank God for progress.
