The following year I went for my annual physical once again. By this time I wasn’t even making it on the sports teams and I didn’t care. I just wanted an answer. I showed the doctor my knuckles again and her eyes widened. I was told to go check it out. This time I was sent home with a name, number and a rheumatologist to call. My school form didn’t say I was healthy anymore. It said nothing at all. This was the moment I ventured into the unknown. My pediatrician had a rheumatologist in her family but didn’t think to have me check it out sooner, leaving me to think I was going crazy, it was just a phase and it was nothing.