More Challenges Osteonecrosis

This week has been very tough for Colleen and our family. We found out a few months ago that Colleen had osteonecrosis. This is caused by the high doses of steroids that are given as an anticancer drug. Over time the steroids cause decreased blood flow to the bones which causes bone death. She originally had this problem in the knees and the doctors felt it would resolve in time if she was taken off of those steroids. She seemed to be doing well up until about 2 weeks ago when the pain got worse. Her hips and knees began to hurt. The pain has gotten progressively worse until walking is unbearable for her despite being put on large doses of narcotics. We went to see both the ortho doctor and the oncologist on friday. The ortho doctor feels that the osteonecrosis is progressing despite the fact that she is off of the steroids. She now has it in both hips, knees legs and now her left hand is beginning to hurt. The oncologist states that most kids get better when taken off of the steroids but a very small percentage get worse. Colleen has once again fallen into the special category- the ones that get the worst side effects. The ortho doctor states that knee replacements are less likely but when the hip is involved it is more likely to require replacement. We have a mri of both hips tomorrow am at childrens hospital. Please pray that the hip joints are intact. If they are intact no surgery is required but if the joint is compromised, it will require extensive surgery basically hip replacements. 
     She has also been having a lot of pain. We have an appt at the pain clinic at Children's Hospital on Wednesday. Please, please pray for wisdom for the doctors and for relief soon from this terrible pain. They were able to put her on toradol which seems to be helping a little but she is still unable to do homework or go to school We are hoping she will be able to go to school on monday in the wheelchair. Thank you for praying. 
     Colleen is very excited to announce that she is putting a team together for the annual leukemia, lymphoma walk at the zoo on June 29th. She is having shirts designed for our team which will be called leen on God. If you can participate, she would be thrilled. It includes free admission to the zoo for the day and only requires that each person raise thirty dollars each. Her goal is to have the largest team there. We will post more details when we find out more. Please contact us via facebook. Len or Tammy Stewart Thank you Tammy