Jennas JIA & Uveitis

So, those of you that are my Facebook friends know that Thursday night wasn't a good one for us. I knew that Bean was struggling with pain all day but darn her she refused to admit it. She wasn't walking right throughout the day but instead doing that hopping thing she does. She always says, "I do it because I like to." BALONEY! She also couldn't sit right. She would try to tuck her legs under her, then she'd lean over sideways, then scoot to the edge of the chair, then stand, then start it all over again. My rear end you aren't in pain! That night I told her she was going to soak in a nice hot bath after dinner. She loves her bubble baths so she went along with this without a fight. After I shampoo her she likes to have the curtain closed for playtime. After a few minutes I peeked around the curtain and found her pressing her bath pouf into her knees. I asked her, "What are you doing?" That startled her and she just looked up at me with her HUGE brown eyes. That was it, I knew. She said in the smallest voice, "My knees hurt, I'm trying to make them feel better." I asked her, "Why wouldn't you say so every time I asked you today??" She just shrugged and continued to kill me with her big puppy dog eyes. I told her just a few more minutes then I want her out so I can get her lotioned and dressed before she got cold. I went back into her room and paced the floor trying to sort it all out. WHY DO THEY HIDE IT? WHY?! I don't understand this part of it all. I calmed down and went back in to get her out of the tub. As I was rinsing her she said, "I have two purple toes." HUH?! WHAT?! That was inside my head. I said, "You have what? Purple toes?" This was a new one. She said, "Yep, see? And they hurt too." Sure as you know what, she had a purple toe on each foot. I was beside myself. I took a moment, then looked at her and said, "THIS is why you NEED to be honest with us. I could tell ALL day that you were hurting. If you had been honest I could have given you something for the pain before it got to this point." Now, some of you may be wondering why I don't give her something anyway. Because, so much crap goes into her body already on a regular basis I hate to add more. I also want her to learn to take the initiative and or responsibility if you will for knowing that her body needs the help of an additional medication. So at this point I told her, "Okay so now we need to do Motrin every 4 hours until we get this under control OR Celebrex every night." She gave me "the stink face". Those that know Bean KNOW that face. We stared each other down until she broke and said, "Fine....Celebrex." So each night since Thursday night she has taken a Celebrex. Gotta say, today she seems GREAT. We'll see how things go. Okay so the song you have been listening too? Well after this all went down Thursday night I was in a state. Anger, frustration, sadness....I was beside myself. Thank God for putting such awesome friends in my life. I was messaging back and forth with two of THE BEST and they got me through it. During this time I was listening to K-Love, as I normally do while in the kitchen, and this song, Beautiful by Mercy Me came on. I've heard it a few dozen times before at LEAST. This time, it took on new meaning. Thank goodness the dog had to go outside and I was able to go out and have a cry in private. I posted it on Facebook and it touched some hearts and lives their as well. God can do amazing things when we open our hearts, eyes and ears to Him. For the time being I have disabled my playlist so that this song can play. Hope it can help you too.

John 8:12

¹² When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”