Thursday, March 13, 2014

Endocrinology

Today was a visit to Dr. Clark.  She is our 'local' endocrinologist and she is awesome.  Local is in quotes because it is still a nearly 2 hour trip each way.  Don't get me wrong, it beats 6 hours to Florida, but still doesn't always feel super local.

We see her every 6 months and she has a great eye on Ayden Jane.  Dr. Clark hung with us through the 'winter of infection' when Ayden Jane sort of fell apart.  She has been helping us to get her straightened out again and yes, it is now 2 years from when things hit rock bottom.  The numbers, you know, height and weight numbers, two years ago showed AJ's growth slowing, weight rising and BMI not good.  A year after that things were a little better, but still not where they needed to be.

Finally, 6 months ago we had all supplements at the optimal dose for AJ and her lab work finally back to a good place. 

Today, as we reviewed how Ayden Jane was doing, we found that the last 6 months she grew a lot.  She grew 1 3/4 inches.  That is nearly double the expected growth.  Although Ayden Jane's weight is not optimal, it is not far off of where it should be for her height at this age so her BMI is significantly better than a year ago and most of the improvement was in the past 6 months.  I am thrilled because with as cold and nasty as this winter has been I felt like she was not as active as I'd like.

So excited about where we should stand by the end of an active summer!

We also did a bone age x-ray.  Last year at this time Ayden Jane's bone age was 1 year advanced.  That's not the end of the world, but it is not good.  If bone age is advanced then growth plate close early and bone growth ends early.  Advanced bone age is often a signal that gh is too high.  We thought that Ayden Jane's high IGF-1 levels due to her illness was likely to blame.  Today that was confirmed.  Her x-ray's today show her bone age still advanced, but only by 6 months.  Yippee!!

We talked about doing labs because Ayden Jane is actually quite under dosed if you do a weight based dosing of gh.  We are going to wait a little until all the crazy skin stuff is passed and I am sure that she is/has been healthy for a good while.  (oh, I'll fill you in on the crazy skin stuff another night)

Lastly, a great AJ story.  As we drove to endocrinology I decided to swing through Sonic for drinks.  Ayden Jane thinks that an unsweet tea with a bit of raspberry is a huge treat!  I handed it to her and waited for the food I ordered for me.  Ayden Jane says after taking a sip, "Mom, can you taste my tea?  I think it is sweet tea and it will give me a giant headache and take away all my energy."  I had forgotten to taste it and Ayden Jane had saved the day.  We talked about what a great choice that was and how proud I was of her for taking great care of herself.  She really amazes me sometimes..

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