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With the steroid injection complete, we go home to wait and hope that his limping will improve. I watch from the wifi camera every morning when Cooper first gets out of bed. Does it seem like he is limping less? It does not improve. He won't bend his knee. Weeks go by. Still, nothing. Frustration hits an all time high. This is going to be our lives now, these scary medications, the side effects, the hoping he doesn't catch any bugs too scary because of the medications. I had

July 8- the first Rheumatologist On Monday, Cooper had an MRI done on his left knee. On Wednesday, we are meeting with a rheumatologist. On the way to this appointment, I had furiously chatted online with a woman that has two daughters with Down syndrome and arthritis. She had given me so much information going into this appointment, questions to ask, things to avoid, things to watch for in the exam. She armored me with some confidence, and that is absolutely invaluable when

The MRI results come back that same afternoon. I see them in Cooper's chart. "Synovial thickening" "Enhanced popliteal lymph nodes" "Question of synovitis" There's that word again, synovitis. What does it mean? Inflammation. Lots of it. Something is causing the lining in his knee to be inflamed. But what? The ordering doctor, the pediatric orthopedic specialist doesn't call me that afternoon. I call immediately the next morning. I want to know what this means. How do I help m