Another Inch!

We rushed to her endocrinologist appointment at the end of the day, fearing there was not enough time to be seen by her doctor.  Thankfully he waited for her arrival.

She grew - another inch.  A miracle.

Samantha sees her doctor who is tracking her progress and prescribing her growth hormone therapy every two months.  At these visits her height and weight is tracked, along with determining whether her medication needs to be increased.  Samantha doesn't mind visiting her doctor; in fact, it becomes a comedy show from the time she arrives to the moment she leaves.  The staff and her doctor all enjoy speaking with her about school, her newest art painting, and they always ask about her blog.

I am always nervous when we visit her doctor; for I hope that Samantha's body is positively responding to the medication, that there are no negative side effects to taking it upon her, and I pray that she continues to have as much time as possible to take the medication.

No one knows how long a person needs to take growth hormone therapy; it depends on a variety of factors: whether one's body responds (and continues to respond) to growth hormone treatment, the onset of puberty (which closes the door to the natural end to growing in height), and finally the "bone age" of a person (vs one's chronological age). Those who have a young bone-age will have more time to grow.  Those who have that of his/her chronological age usually mirror the curve doctors plot one's progress in growth, and those with an older bone-age will grow for a shorter period of time because the bones only have so much room within the "growth plates" to grow.

The unknown is very challenging:
What is her expected height?
How much longer will she take this medication?
What are all the long term effects?
Will she continue to grow at the pace she has?

I don't know.

Samantha is doing amazingly well in so many ways; however what people don't know is that growth hormone treatment can stop working at ANY MINUTE, without warning, and without any explanation.

Despite the many unknowns about the path we are traveling down; I am inspired by Samantha and her outlook on taking this opportunity and creating much confidence in herself and impacting her community.  All you have to do is read her blogs from when she first began "Seriously Samantha" to know that she is a better person for having this experience, as are we all in our family.