The BIG weekend!! (In a BIG post)

OK, a little bit of back-story is needed here!  The munchkin was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis in June of 2010.  Last September, Stanford clarified she does not have Rheumatoid because her RA factor was negative!  They also corrected her diagnosis to be Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (meaning they don't know what causes it).  Stanford increased the meds and showed us some additional stretches/exercises.  Now, we go to Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston.  Let me first say, the place is adorable!! Their waiting rooms have fish tanks and this cool pyramid the kids can climb into and slide down... it's WAY cooler than Stanford.  Anyhow, our appointment with her new doc was a couple weeks ago and they reclassified her arthritis to Juvenile Psoriatic Arthritis.  Which means, instead of just the joints being inflamed, all the tendons and ligaments connecting those joints are also inflamed.  Which translates into more inflammation, obviously, and way more pain. :(  She is such a trooper though!!

Anyhow, because of the new sub-class of arthritis, the teams (her doctor, the doctors 3 assistants, the interns, nurses, etc. henceforth referred to as 'the team')  recommendation was Methotrexate.  This medicine attacks the cells that cause the inflammation.  It is also used along with other meds to help fight leukemia so it's a pretty strong medicine.  It has been a tough decision and we spent a lot of time on our knees making sure this was the right call. The medicine she was taking was just not doing enough. It was helping with inflammation, but not decreasing it enough for her little body to continue to grow naturally without defect. So after a couple consultations and talking with our good friend Johanna (thanks again!), we felt Methotrexate was the right thing to do.

The view from our room!  That's part of downtown in the distance,

and MD Anderson is about two blocks to the south.

So, there's some back-story.  On Friday, we went to TCH to meet with Ms Maggie (our Head Nurse) so she could teach us how to administer this puppy.  It's an injection once a week.  Ms Maggie scored so much stuff for Peyten it was unbelievable!  She gave her some new syringes, minus the needles of course, so she could practice on Bella and Fuzz, who were by her side for moral support!  She also gave her an empty vial, this cool stress ball, a sample from some company that looks and feels like skin so she could practice on that and a couple other small things.  She got the hook-up big time!  Which really helped distract her from the shot we were giving her!  Ms Maggie showed us our options for giving her the shot and taught Ken and I how to give it properly.  It kinda freaked me out - giving my child a shot.  Never done that before.  But I'll get used to it I'm sure.  She did so amazing!!!

Peyten, Bella, Fuzz and some yellow thing that made it past my 'inspection' when we left the car.

She still has to take the old meds because that helps decrease swelling.  So for now, she's on two meds. :(  But hopefully, over the next 3-7 months, we will start seeing a massive decrease in the size of her joints and an increase in her comfort level and range of motion!!

After that 'fun', we went out for some real fun at the Houston Childrens Museum!  All I can say is, WOW!!!  It TOTALLY rocked!!  So many fun things to play with, build, sculpt, paint, tear down, re-build and make a mess with!!  We have only ever been to the Stockton kids museum, which is nice/better than nothing!  Now, having been to Houston's, WOW!!  Just, wow!!!!!  So much fun!  It was three levels of pure fun and imagination!!  Here are some of our fave pics!!

Talk about hands-on learning about weights and pulleys!

A giant robot made from recycled telephones!!  Now THAT was cool!! :)

Lots of cool things teaching about irrigating, dams, ditches, water currents, creating energy from water, water pressure, measurements... It was so cool!!  When the big bowl at the top was full it would dump on the unlucky people standing in front of it!! :)

Face painting!

My little Monet!!  Ken was a pansy and didn't face paint.  Whimp! ;)

Architecture, foundation, sizing, math, creativity... and she loved the vest!  She's such a girl!!

The cafe.  They had a real touch-screen computer, full-on menus, pots, pans, fake food, flatware, plates, drinks, etc.  It was so cute watching her take our order and then bring us something COMPLETELEY different! 

This thing was AWESOME!!  They were discs suspended with wires and nets all around it.  It was seriously 3 stories tall with three entrances/exits!!  She absolutely loved it!!! 

Afterwards and exhausted!!

Bella and Fuzzy-Bear.  Bella looks especially exhausted.  Not even five minutes after getting into the car Peyten and her menagerie were totally out!!

That night we went to Huntsville State Park for our ward campout, though we only went for the campfire!  We were all pretty drained from the days festivities.  Singing those campfire songs really made me miss Camp Liahona and my awesome Manteca Stake!!  The songs here are 95% the same, but the tune was a little different, words were a little different and they don't get into the songs like we did at good 'ol Clarks Fork!! ;)  Then on Saturday we did some MUCH NEEDED yard work.  For about 2 months we searched for a new battery for our riding lawn mower and we FINALLY found one!! So to say it needed to be mowed is a bit of an understatement! ;)  See for yourself:

Ken is 6'5" with shoes on.  So just imagine how tall this weed is!! ;-)

So gross.  We pulled out the nasty weeds as best we could before mowing. 

Hopefully they don't come back!! ;)  Yeah right!!

Afterwards!  MUCH better.  Still lots to do, but it's better!!

That's our weekend!  Pretty busy and darn exhausting!  Peyten and I leave for Cali is 7 sleeps and we're so excited to Spring Break it without mosquitos!! ;)  Will post again after Cali!!