Needless to say, the months of May and June have been very tempetuous for the two of us. End of the school and studio semester and the Reidland United Methodist Handbell Tour. (We have received some pictures from the handbell tour. As soon as we get permission from the ringers' parents we will post them here. They are really cute!) We also had mutible doctor office visits. We spend more time in doctor offices these past two months than we have in a long time. It all started the last week of April. Amy noticed that she having some muscle stiffness in her neck and arms. No biggy we thought. She had been working in the garden that week. Then came the handbell tour the first weekend of May. So when it was time for her regular checkup with the rheumatologist all she could report was that she was a bit stiff and sore and it probably could be explained by the extra responsibilities of tour and the garden. A week passes and no change. Then Friday, May 15, Amy notices that her left arm and back are beginning to swell. By Monday morning, she could no longer feel her elbow bones because of the swelling. So, to our family practicioner we go.





We go to a walk-in clinic for our basic stuff. We both go in since Logan had to renew a prescription for his migraine headaches and he had to get some routine bloodwork taken care of. Amy gets her left shoulder x-rayed. Nothing broken! So, they send Amy home with instructions to elevate and rest the arm. There was no change in the arm and now the swelling had spread down her arm into her hand. We go back to our walk-in clinic. This time we see our regular doctor. He prescribed a vascular study of her shoulder to check for blood clots. All clear --- phew! He also gives her some Medrol. This takes down most of the swelling. (Which was very good since we were getting worried about Amy's wedding band.) He also orders a MRI of her shoulder to check for a torn rotator cuff. Fortunately, no tear, just a lot of swelling. We received these results last Friday.

After getting the reading from the MRI, our doctor orders some physical therapy (3 times/week/3 weeks). But, over the weekend Amy starts to swell AGAIN! This time in the right shoulder. This postpones filling the order for physical therapy. So, we are back in the walk-in clinic again yesterday. We do not get to see the regular doctors, we get to see the nurse practitioner. He looks over all the reports and recommends that we go see our rheumatologist since we need a new "game plan." We drive over to the rheumatologist's office since it is on our way home and schedule an appointment. They had an opening two hours later. So, we go home and come back.

The rheumatologist thinks that she has become tolerant of her anti-inflammatory drug and needs to boost the dosage. He asked her about her stomach and heart burn problems from her anti-inflammatory drug and decides that she probably could not tolerate an increase in dosage at this time. So, he complements her regular prescription with some Plaquenil. So, now we just have to wait and see how this works. It also means another trip to Clarksville to have Logan's father to check Amy's eyes since Plaquenil has some vision side effects. Amy was hoping to get off some of her medications, not add. Hopefully, this will be just a short term situation.

Once the lab results came in, the rheumatologist found some problems with her liver functions. So, he takes her off of anti-inflammatory drug and puts her back on Prednisone. She had some blood taken yesterday (6/15/09). So, we hope to hear from the doctor soon on how she is progressing.

Now that school is out, Logan, will be busy with other things. He celebrated his 34th birthday on Friday, June 5, and made three trips to Nashville area with the Reidland UMC church bus and last week he had a week long interpreter workshop to attend. After which he can then renew his interpreter license and Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) membership. We are also getting excited about our plans to go to the Seattle, Washington area to visit Amy's maternal grandmother, aunt, uncle, and a few cousins. He is also having to take up the slack around the house since Amy is still having trouble lifting her arms above her head. Which means he is cooking more, helping Amy get dressed, and doing her hair most mornings. (Yes, Logan can braid Amy's hair!) He has been called to preach the past two weeks and fill in for the organist next Sunday (6/21/09).

Phew! That is the current update for now. We will update after our trip to the Seattle area.