Emjae's Doctor Appt.

Yesterday was a good day for us. We were able to finally have a doctor tell us a diagnoses and what the steps we will be taking are.
They diagnosed Emjae with Oligoarticular JIA. It's no longer called JRA, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, because it has nothing to do with Rheumatoid Arthritis which is seen in older people. JIA stands for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. The Juvenile is because she is a juvenile and the idiopathic is because they have yet to figure out the cause of the arthritis. 80-90 per 100,000 kids get arthritis and of that 50% get the type that Emjae has. It is very prevalent in females under the age of 6.
We were given a prescription of Naproxen to help control the inflammation. With too much inflammation the joint can start to grow at a much faster pace then the other joint which can cause a different in leg growth. Some of the side effects could cause some gastric discomfort. They will also do urine test once a year to make sure that it is not causing any damage to her liver or kidneys. If the Naproxen does not seem to be helping with her joint we will then have to go and get injections into her knee. But we will deal with that if and when it becomes necessary.
Emjae will be going to the doctors every two months to begin with and hopefully over time the length between visits will grow longer. She will continue to take the medicine until the Arthritis is no longer there, which has a 25% chance that she will grow out of it. On top of these doctor visits we will be visiting an Ophthalmologist every 3 months.
With the Oligoarticular JIA the blood work will usually show positive for Antinuclear antibodies. Emjae did test positive for this and as such is put at a high risk of developing Chronic Iridocyclitis. For short they call this Iritis which is inflammation of the eye. Children with other forms of JIA have a 5% chance of developing this. With the type Emjae has it jumps to a 20% chance. Now because she tested positive on the blood work it puts her into another higher risk category. The inflammation in the eye if left untreated can lead to blindness. If by the chance the arthritis goes away she is still considered a high risk for Iritis. There are no symptoms except for red eyes or pain and by then it may be too damaged. Hence the reason for the visits to the Ophthalmologist.
As far as us stopping her from doing to much activity or anything like that the doctor recommended us to not prohibit any. If Emjae's knee is bothering her she will stop herself and in fact they like to encourage physical activity to ensure that the muscles and joints are still being used and are functioning.
Some of the things that were told to us may seem scary, but the doctor seemed to think that Emjae would be one of the lucky ones that grows out of it because we caught it early and because it is only in one joint as of now. We were given some websites and reading information so we can learn more about it.