Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Growth Hormone?

Julianne is little. Ever noticed that? Our doctor has. He's been watching Julianne for a few years now. And even knowing my history, (I was a serious "late bloomer"...aka Consitutional Growth Delay) he still was "concerned" about Julianne. Dr. Lindsay doesn't get "concerned" easily so I sat up and paid attention. It just so happens that Dr. Lindsay, as well as being a pediatrician, is also an excellent pediatric endocrinologist. Lucky us! He's sent Julianne in for various tests recently checking thyroid and growth hormone levels. Those came back normal. He also sent her in for a bone age scan. The scan came back with a bone age of 10. Chronological age for Julianne was 10 and 3/4. Growth age was 7. Which means, although she was 10 years old, she looked like she was 7. For Julianne to just be a late bloomer like me, her bone age should've been closer to her growth age of 7. But it wasn't. It was closer to her chronological age. Which is obviously what it should be if she's growing normally. Which she's not. (Did you follow all of that?) So, educated predictions put her at an adult height of 4'8''.

Four feet, eight inches?? That's when my heart started sinking. That's just too short. What if she can't drive a car? What if she always has to stand on a stool to reach the kitchen countertop. What if no boys want to ask her to the prom because, as cute as she is, she's just too little? And that's when I started to cry. I know what it's like to be short. I hated kids calling me "shrimp" and "short stuff". I hated it that none of the boys would flirt with me at the mall because they thought I was still just a little girl. I hated it when wise grownups would tell me that even though I looked young now, when I was in my 30's and I still looked like I was in my 20's I would be grateful. (Which is true by the way....but I hated hearing it then.) I just wanted to be normal. Rebekah and Julianne are both small. They handle it better than I did. According to Dr. Lindsay, Rebekah is like me, a late bloomer. I'm okay with her dealing with being short if I know that eventually she'll put on a growth spurt and end up normal like I did. But for Julianne...to be that short for her whole life? I don't want that for her.

So, Dr. Lindsay has now officially recommended we "intervene". And now Bryan, Julianne and I have to decide if we want to subject Julianne to growth hormone. It's expensive. Insurance companies don't like to pay for it. We're worried about side effects and risks. It's kind of tough making a decision now for something that may or may not happen in the future. Because when it comes right down to it, predicting Julianne's adult height really is just an educated guess. She's a healthy, happy little girl right now. It's not like she has some disease where it becomes obvious that she needs medical help. But I'd hate to do nothing and then watch her struggle...emotionally, physically....knowing we could've done something. So I guess we do research and we gather all the information we can and then we pray and pray and then pray some more that we will do what's right for Julianne.


This picture is of the test Julianne took yesterday. It was a more serious growth hormone test. She went in to the doctor's office fasting. They gave her some medication and sent her down to the lab to have her blood drawn a half hour later and then again a half hour after that. Then back up for another kind of medication and two more blood draws. She was amazing! Didn't flinch, didn't complain. The lab worker said Julianne was the best 11 year old she'd ever drawn blood from. I was so proud of my girl!

7 comments:

Jan T. said...

Sarah...I watched a piece about this on Dateline a couple of years ago. It is such a tough decision to make...for everyone involved. That is when parenting becomes "not fun!" Thank goodness you have someone to turn to!:) You're a great mom...I know Julianne is in good hands...and yes, she is so dang cute...and so dynamic. Big personality in a little body!:) Hope all goes well.

about us said...

I had my blood drawn today...ONCE...and nearly passed out! What a little trooper! I'm sure you all will make the right decision.

Mindy said...

You guys will make the right decision. Not matter what she is stil the cutest.

Jill said...

She's one tough cookie!

Kim said...

Oh Sarah....that is such a tough decision to make. In all honesty, I have NEVER noticed how small Julianne is. I have just always noticed how darling she is! Our prayers are with you that you make the decision that is best for her. She is a such a doll with so much to offer everyone around her!!

One other question...how do you get your list of friends to list when they have updated their blogs? That is so cool? I would love to list my friends that way if I only knew how!

Croft Family said...

Sarah, I think it's great that you are including Julianne in this decision. You are a great mom and no matter what you all decide it will be the right one for her.

Camilla Millar said...

I guess I would definitely go with Julianne's input--if she can handle the shots and side-effects.

I guess if you do decide to go with growth hormone, and it turns out to be awful, then at least you will know that you tried. . . . and it is not like you can't reverse the decision.

Also, in the end, like you said, being short is not the end of the world. . . . .maybe Julianne could look into being a jockey? . . . . aparently that line of work is very lucrative!