One Year

It has been one year since we began giving Kate weekly injections of methotrexate in order to combat her scleroderma. One year of putting poison into her and praying it helps. Kate has proven to be stronger than I could have even imagined, going from screaming and crying the first shot to cracking jokes and even rolling her eyes at me, on occasion. The turning point was her first appointment after her shots began because her doctor said that there was no progression and the shots were helping. Praise the Lord, there has been no progression.

One reason this update has taken so long to formulate is that the news has been good and we have therefore been operating on auto-pilot. It is difficult to explain the constant fear that exists with joy for each day nothing changes. Neither of us let ourselves dwell on what could be and each time we notice something, anything, our hearts stop with trepidation that this could be a new symptom or something worse. We can't think about these things, because we don't know what will happen. Specifically, Kate has Limited Systemic Scleroderma, realistically, a few of her knuckles are slightly shiny and she turns colors when she gets cold.

In this last year, we have been so thankful for everyone who has helped and reached out to us. Driving down the road, I remember the team that came and helped us clean out our garage, the friends who mowed our lawn or the family who has bathed us in prayer. We could not have asked for better support system and we thank you so much for everything you have done and continue to do to support us.

Moving forward, we simply pray this medicine continues to help and that each trip to Seattle Children's brings the news "no progression."