Samantha looks taller.
I don't know the specific moment when it was exactly that I came to this conclusion. Was it the fact that I needed to buy her new dresses for the Jewish New Year when she sang on the bima for services at our temple, or was it when I was watching her this evening while she was preparing to take her shot this evening?
Samantha continues to refer to herself as "short", and she is compared to many of her peers. Although this process is daunting as a parent for countless reasons, I look forward to seeing how her body reacts to growth hormone therapy.
I am asked often the following questions:
1) how long will Samantha be taking growth hormones?
2) how much taller will she be from what she would have been had she not taken HGH?
3) how do you know it is working?
4) how do you know she would not be the same height had she not taken HGH?
5) how do you really know with 100 percent certainty that HGH won't "hurt" her in years to come?
The answers to all of these questions is simple: I don't know.
I do not like the answer "I don't know", especially when it has to do with my children's health. Studies have shown that 1 in 3,500 children in the US have growth hormone deficiency. I believe that this number is low and that more children are affected by this condition. In order to arrive at where we are today, we needed to:
- have her pediatrician who not only recognized that Samantha grew 3/4 of an inch from age 10 to 11 and that was not only much less than the average height a girl her age grows (which is 2.5 or more inches per year);
- have her pediatrician who compared her growth in height from age 10 to 11 to previous years and realized that she was not growing according to her "projected trajectory"
- agree to our pediatrican's request for Samantha to provide a blood sample to test for not only growth hormone levels as well as rule out other serious medical conditions,
- consult with an Endocronologist after receiving the news that Samantha's growth hormone levels were in less the 3rd percentile,
- have Samantha take a timed blood test which consisted of 4 blood tests every 30 minutes for 1.5 hours,
- have Samantha receive an MRI with contrast of her brain to verify she didn't have a tumor on her pituitary gland,
- apply for growth hormone therapy treatment through her insurance
- navigate though the bureaucracy of her insurance company provider in order to have them accept her application for growth hormone treatment,
- understand Samantha's "out of pocket" copy for speciality medication such as HGH,
- teach myself, my husband/her father, and Samantha how to administer her injections,
- answer questions from family and friends about growth hormone deficiency in a regular basis,
- listening to Samantha explain quite eloquently her condition to both adults and children,
- realizing that the process of taking HGH involves frequent visits to the Endocronologist, blood tests every 2 months, bone age x-rays every few months (yes, the medical bills add up quickly),
AND
- having to watch my 11 year old daughter take injections every single night for an unknown period of time. I thought it would get easier to watch as the days pass. It doesn't.
The list above isn't exhaustive of all the things we have done, learned, and come to terms with thus far in our journey to an unknown destination. It does exemplify a snapshot of the tremendous amount of time, research, financial commitment, and knowledge we have gained in order for Samantha to receive the benefit of taking HGH; and a benefit indeed it is.
The journey of raising children is a precious one; even with its many twists and turns. Some are anticipated and others come upon us unexpectedly. The quality of our navigation along the road is essential. We may get lost along the way; however so long as we return to the path we know is the right one, we will reach the destination we were set out to reach.
No comments:
Post a Comment