Our Tough, Sweet Livvie-Lou!

The 24th of July wasn't a real fun holiday for our Livvie this year. She was in pain and not even able to walk. Starting in February, she had been getting a swollen ankle. At first she would start feeling better and walking by the afternoon, and then with later episodes, she wouldn't be able to walk for the whole day. Sometimes it would be one ankle, sometimes both ankles...sometimes they would swell a lot, and sometimes not too much swelling. We saw Instacare doctors, our pediatrician, and an orthopedic surgeon, and we just couldn't figure out what was going on. Then her knees started hurting and sometimes swelling. Everything the orthopedic was telling us just didn't feel right, and we really felt like we needed to talk to our pediatrician again. We called him the next time she had an episode, and told him what had been happening since we had seen him last. He immediately sent us for blood work. Olivia didn't even blink as they drew her blood, and the nurses were amazed. Based on the blood work and his suspicions, our doctor sent us to a rheumatologist at Primary Children's. Olivia was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. We were relieved to have answers, a relatively quick diagnosis, a plan to help her deal with her pain, and we were so grateful that it wasn't something worse. We've been blessed with good doctors, modern medecine, and one tough little girl. She was so sick this summer, yet she was patient and strong through it all. She has responded remarkably well to the medicine without any of the worrisome side effects so far. Even when she's sore, or on days that she couldn't walk, not much slows her down. Now it makes sense why Olivia needed her tough, sassy, spunky attitude. This trial has reaffirmed to us again how well Heavenly Father knows each of us. This is something that she may grow out of, or she may not, but either way, I know that she will be strong, and a better person because of it.