Now Elli is on steroids...

So, Elliana is actually feeling a lot better.  The number of medicines that she is taking is down quite a bit and will probably keep on dropping.  She is in a walking cast and can finish with that on Tuesday.  She is already starting to walk around at home without it.  Elli's incision from her bone biopsy healed up very nicely, but she has had a fair amount of swelling and fluid in her knee, so the doctors started her on steroids.  The steroids should be very effective at treating her CRMO.  If they are, they may follow up with infusion medication that will help with pain for three to four months at a time.  The infusions can be done at the main campus of Primary Children's Hospital or at the Riverton campus.  The treatments take six hours each and are given every other day until three doses have been given.  All of this has been challenging, but Elliana is a trooper!  She has been so patient and handled her pain and challenges very well for a child her age.  She is an amazing kid!  Rebecca and Julia have also had to share me a lot with Elliana and they have actually done really well too.

David is also hitting seven months of being gone this week!  We got to see him on a couple of visits in November, but we are really looking forward to his two weeks home in April!  We can't wait to have him home for a little while and we are thrilled to be entering the last half of deployment!  He also has a 96-hour liberty this summer, so I am going to meet him in Switzerland for a fun vacation!  Two visits during this last half of deployment sure make things easier.