Growth Hormone Deficiency Part 2

If you missed Part 1 of Alex's growth hormone deficiency story go back a few entries and check it out first.

Okay, so we have etablished that she was 40 kinds of cute as a t.i.n.y. girl but she wouldn't stay t.i.n.y. for long...

Once Dr. Nickel's had established that she was growth hormone deficient we found out about the treatment. Which was a shot. Every. Day. How do you break it to an about-to-turn-four-year-old that she will have to have a shot every day for the next ten years or so? With a PARTY, of course! We planned a "shot party." We had everyone come who may possibly ever need to give her a shot, like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. And they brought presents. We had dinner and had cake and a shot. We had a nurse scheduled to come to our party who would be teaching all possible shot givers how to administer her growth hormone. She explained to us how the pen worked, how to reload it with medication, where to give the shot, and most importantly HOW to give the shot. Brennan and Sy look especially concerned...

The pen LOOKED harmless enough...

There was a brief look on her face of "what was that?", a few tears, and then she was back to playing with her cousins. Since Tony had to do the shot the first night it was my turn to do the shot the next night. I dreaded it ALL DAY LONG. I stalled, bargained, piddled, anything I could think of to get out of it - but I couldn't. It had to be done. I was dreading the tears, I was dreading making her cry every day for the next ten years or so, and I was dreading that betrayed and surprised look on her face again. I was miserable. She, on the other hand, hadn't given it much thought, and took it like the strong willed, tough little girl that she was and was back to doing her own thing before I could dry my tears...

Growth Hormone Deficiency, Part 1

The real reason I decided to start a blog is because of this little girl who is no longer a little girl at all. This picture was taken in the Spring of 2000. Right after her well child visit with her pediatrician - her great pediatrician - Dr. Booher. She was all kinds of cute. She was three years old and T.I.N.Y. Not that we were alarmed, though, she doesn't come from a tall family. You can't expect mountains out of mole hills, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and all that. Luckily we had a doctor who didn't write her smallness off quite so quickly. When she went for her three year old well visit he asked us to come back in six months instead of one year to do a followup on her growth. When we came back after this six months she had barely grown any. Most kids grow several inches a year and she was measuring in at less than 1/2 an inch in a year.

He referred us to an endocrinologist, Dr. Nickels, at Children's Hospital. The first thing Dr. Nickels did is order an initial bone age x-ray and a blood test. Her bone age x-ray and blood test indicated that there needed to be further testing done. That further testing was a grueling day for her - and us. This test was a 4 hour stim test. She was given two different stimulants and they tested her blood every 30 minutes for four hours. By the end of the four hours and eight blood draws we were all crazy! (Miraculously she did not cry until the last one - she had finally had enough). What was determined in this test was that she was producing very little growth hormone. Not enough to sustain normal growth. The next test they wanted to do on her was an MRI because this lack of growth hormone production could be caused by a tumor on her pituitary gland or a pituitary gland that was not formed correctly. The MRI showed that her pituitary gland was formed correctly and was producing everything properly EXCEPT FOR GROWTH HORMONE.