A Year of Clear Eyes Gone in a Second

Sadly yes, SP is in a uveitis flare, a very mild one, only a few inflammation cells are present, but this still needs to be treated so it doesn't become a full-blown awful, things are spiraling out of control flare. And it was caused by a single grain of sand. Yes, you read that correctly.
We went to Assateaque on Tuesday for some fun in the sun with a long time friend of mine and her family. The kids had a blast! Jumping waves, building sand castles, just being happy kids

We left and went to lunch with everyone, drove home, everyone had showers and we settled in to chill for a bit. After 2 hours home SP complained of something in her eye. And, of course, it was her bad eye. I looked and saw nothing, she started to cry from the sensation of something in her eye so we tried saline eye drops, a bottle of water to flush it out, nothing. I called our local eye place and thankfully a Dr agreed to see her. At 6 we made it there and the Dr removed a single grain of clear sand- SP felt immediately better. But the sand had scratched her eye so he prescribed antibiotic eye drops every 2 hours while awake with instructions to see her ophthalmologist within 1-2 days.

We got an appointment at Dupont on Thursday where the Dr said the eye was not scratched but irritated from the abrasive sand which had signaled the body to run to the rescue. The problem with JIA is the body mistakenly believes that normal joints and her eye are the enemy and will try to destroy it not realizing it is only hurting itself. That is why SP is on MTX and Humira to fool her body into thinking everything is fine by lowering her immune system. So SP is back on steroid eye drops 3x a day until her follow-up appointment in 2 weeks. Since her eye has been quiet and clear for so long and we are catching this very early we are hopeful she will get back into quiet eyes quickly. Poor girl is so upset and afraid of needing another eye surgery, it's very heartbreaking.

On to better news, school is over! SP is very excited! You might recall she broke her leg 1 week after school let out last summer so she said she has to cram two summers into this one LOL She has big plans :) and an early start on them

SP had an amazing school year! She got 3rd place for the accelerated reading program in the 3rd grade, met her goal all 4 marking periods, and one that brings a tear to my eye- she received the Moving On Award, nominated by her teacher and selected by the local Lion's Club for the child that has made the most improvement despite challenging circumstances.

SP has really taken a liking to bowling. This is the first time she has ever bowled. Kids bowl free is a wonderful summer program! Basically, you sign them up at a participating bowling center and they get to bowl 2 free games each day at a designated time. You do have to pay for shoe rental and snacks.

Our girl is growing up so very fast! and this summer will fly, bringing with it her 9th birthday and she moves on to a new school in the fall, exciting times are ahead and we're not going to let an Uveitis flare bring us down.