January 29, 2013 He's Home

Most of you know already that Elder Bryce is home from his mission- due to some hip problems that began about 8 weeks ago. One day, while out walking, he noticed a pain in his right hip. It progressively got worse over a 5 week period. Soon, both hips were hurting to the point that he was sent to an Orthopedic Surgeon in El Salvador. They arranged for X-rays and blood tests. The Doctor there, who had gone to school in England, felt that this was due to Rheumatoid Arthritis. With this diagnosis, the Mission President talked with the Area Seventy, who made the decision to send him home to get the medical treatment he needs.

He arrived home on January 16. It was a little bit of a heart wrenching experience as we saw him being pushed in a wheelchair out of the airport gate. However, he was still smiling and has been ever since he arrived home.

We took him to the Doctor on the 17th, where they ordered some more blood tests to help figure things out. He also had another set of x-rays done. Then we went to see the Orthopedic doctor here in Ogden and he ordered an MRI for Bryce.

Monday we took him in for his MRI and that was difficult for him to try and hold as still as possible as he experienced some sharp shooting pains in both hips. They had injected some fluid in his hips to help with the MRI views. Then I waited in the waiting room for 2 1/2 hours for him to come back. We have been to the Physical Therapist as well and have found that it makes him swell more and his pain level increases after each visit. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the worst, he is about an 8 all the time. Walking is the worst though.

We have been taking this one day at a time as we move along on our new journey. We are very blessed to be surrounded with good friends and family who are so willing to help out when needed. Thanks to President Pitcher, we now have a wheelchair to give him some freedom. Bryce wanted to attend Institute, so we called to make arrangements for parking and I got to go to class with him on Monday morning before the MRI. There have been a lot of things going on in our family with other health issues. We have witnessed many miracles though and have faith that there are many more to come. Bryce has taught us to keep smiling no matter what!