Re: To Deanna re: rhumo arthritis

April 1, 2004

Hey Deanna,

My son got hurt sliding into base last September. Since then his ankle

swells and bruises with ANY little bit of activity. He has had an MRI

that showed nothing but a little excess water that the ortho doctor

thought might be normal. He has been in a walking brace for all of this

time and started getting plantar fliciatis from the brace digging into

his foot. Then he begged the doctor to put him into a walking cast for

a month to see if it would help. It did. Not one peep of pain after

the first 2 days of the cast. When the cast came off, the ankle was no

longer swollen and you could see this huge index finger length and width

bump under the bone on the outside of the ankle. This was never visible

before because it is always swollen. Anyway, he has been off PE for 7

months. We finally did a test to check for arthritis and it came back

negative for everything except the sedimentation (?) was high. The

doctor said most kids with RA present like this and test negative. He

said he thinks my son also has connective tissue damage but hasn't

elaborated on what it is, is it curable and how it gets done. At my

insistence, after all this time, he referred us to a pediatric RA doctor

that we see in April. Can you tell me more about RA and connective

tissue damage/disease. What were your brothers symptoms and what is the

treatment. I know I am asking alot but I have been all over the net

researching this and would like to go to this RA doctor armed with as

much info as possible. You see, my kid just turned 13 stands 5'10 1/2

and is a solid 230. I don't want this dismissed as obesity. He has

other joint problems and pains as well, but it's this ankle thats giving

him the most trouble.

Thanks,

Sandy in California

Deanna Tubb wrote:

>Dear Sandy,

>I would be happy to answer whatever I can. Can you be more specific

>about what you want to know?

>

>Hugs,

>Deanna Tubb

>New Mexico PAI Rep

>

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