Making Progress...

It feels like we have made progress today. : ) Overall, Matthew is feeling MUCH better, he is able to eat and he has more energy. We met with the nutrition team and it was decided to start up with tpn again (nutrition through his picc line). Tpn will help improve his overall nutritional health and help him gain weight (he has lost 20 pounds since the beginning of April...he really doesn't have 20 pounds to lose, so tpn along with eating should help him gain back the weight). The doctors are pretty sure all the swelling in Matthew's hands/feet are a result of his crohns disease. Bloodwork results are negative for infection and his body is responding well to the prednisone. The scopes showed inflamation in his intestine so they will do another scan of his belly tomorrow (we are praying everything will come back clear). The steriods along with starting a crohns medication should help him to continue to heal and improve. There are a few different biological drugs that are used for treatment of crohns disease. Because the cimzia he had been on doesn't seem to be working, the doctors are starting him on remicade (an infusion drug that they are giving him tonight). Remicade tends to show results fairly quickly (Matthew had been on remicade before and had positive results), we are hopeful he will have good results again. Thank you for your prayers!