An Undate Finally!!

Well here we are almost three weeks since our last post. I am sorry we have not kept this up very well the last few weeks. It is difficult to write stuff here when we don't know what to write. It has been a hard last few weeks in different ways. We have had to make some significant decisions on treatment for Matthew as we have gotten more blood tests back. Outwardly Matthew's body has been improving and we have been excited to see that happen. His blood tests tell a different story though. His overall blood work says that Matthew's muscle inflammation is worse than our last tests in September. After 12 weeks of his body going through this inflammation process he seems to be better, but we need to get him all the way better.

We have chosen, with our doctor's help, to put Matthew on Prednisone. This was difficult as we have so many opinions coming at us from friends, family, and doctors that do not all agree with each other. We have tried other ways to get Matthew better without the Prednisone and those ways have helped, but have not gotten him all the way better. If you know anything about Prednisone you know that it is a very powerful drug with many potential side effects. We feel like this is the right time to try this drug with Matthew though, and feel that we have exhausted all of our other options. We are praying for total healing for Matthew and for very few side effects for him. If this doesn't do the trick we will continue to search for another answer.

How is Matthew doing? Matthew still is not going to school. We took Matthew out of school the first week of September and I do his school work with him here at home when he is feeling well. His teacher has been wonderful and brings his work to us and even spends time with him here going over things to make sure he is on track. I don't take Matthew anywhere except doctor's appointments and he rides along to pick up his brothers from school. He takes a 1-2 hour nap everyday and is happy to do so. He generally is in a pretty good mood unless he is running a high fever or is really itchy (just part of what he has going on in his body). Today is his third day on the Prednisone and so far the biggest thing that I notice is that he is not really achy at night. He went for a whole week without a fever right before he started taking the Prednisone on Wednesday. Tuesday night marked that week with a lower fever of 102.2. He had been very achy at night the four nights before his fever, but without a fever. This is different for him as the aches always were accompanied by a fever before.

Matthew will have more blood tests done in two weeks to see how the inflammation in his body is doing. Then we will reassess the dosing of the Prednisone. Please pray for us that this will be the final thing that will get his body back to how it should be. We trust God in His Sovereignty and are so thankful for His love an comfort that he has given us through our friends and family. We know that He is the Ultimate Healer and that Matthew's health will be restored in His timing.

Thank you to those of you who have gently reminded me to post something here. I will try to do a quick update in a week or so to let you know how the Prednisone is working. I will also be sure to update when we get the blood tests back in a couple weeks.