Good News on Longwood

We had our regular check in at Boston Children's Hospital yesterday. Hannah has been doing really well from our perspective, so I was curious as always, to see how the rheumatologist thought she was doing. He knows which joints to really poke on and has other tricks up his sleeve to find any hidden inflammation. He found NOTHING! Given her history of good health over the last several months and my persistence to start the weaning process of medication, he agreed to stop the methotrexate completely! This is really great news. I have been worrying about the long term effects of these medications (we've been doing the methotrexate and Enbrel combination for two years now) and have been anxious to begin the weaning process. I was even more pleased at the news of just stopping it completely.

Her rheumatologist did question me pretty hard about my decision to not give Hannah the flu vaccine. I was proud of myself for holding my ground, stating my two main concerns: 1. There are so many strains of the flu, it doesn't make sense to me to inject foreign matter into the body that will only cover ONE strain. 2. After Hannah's reaction/flare up to traditional vaccine boosters this last summer (the worst flare up we've ever seen in her little body), I don't want to risk another repeat of that. I feel like Hannah's body attacks itself (hence the autoimmune label), it certainly doesn't need an excuse of additional foreign matter (flu vaccine) to attack itself that much more. I know plenty of people who choose to get the flu vaccine and that's okay. I just know that right now, the flu vaccine does not seem like the right thing for me or the kids. And so I wonder, where do you stand on this matter?

But most importantly, thanks for the thoughts and prayers for Hannah. We're down to one medicine with her and I am so grateful, so very grateful.