Samantha spent the weekend performing with her singing group from school and having fun with her classmates and friends at both Universals Studio and Disneyland. This was also the first weekend Samantha has been away from home and being entirely responsible for ensuring she had taken her nightly shots.
"Is it really terrible if she misses a shot?" I was asked today after expressing my concern that Samantha may not have followed through with her daily regimen. No, it's not a catastrophe if she misses her shot once every so often; however the body needs a regular amount of growth hormones in it to be available for use by the body.
Samantha was terrific. She made sure that there was a refrigerator in her hotel room she shared with her friends so that she could refrigerate her medication and freeze the ice packs for her medicine. The growth hormone treatment medication must be refrigerated at all times otherwise it is be unusable. Samantha packed her medication, needles, and alcohol wipes in a traditional lunchbox cooler with ice packs. She returned with the used needles so that we can safely dispose of them along with an empty pen of medication.
Samantha ran out of medicine last night and didn't receive her full dose. Although I was surprised that she didn't inform me of such earlier in the day upon her return, I was glad that she didn't have any issues with being without her mom when her medication dispenser was empty. There isn't anything that she could have done differently. I realized when I helped her pack her pen with medication that it was possible she could run out, and I intentionally didn't provide her with a new pen filled with medication because I was unsure whether she would forget it in the refrigerator. I'd rather have 1/4 medication left at a hotel than 1.5 weeks worth. I'm pleasantly surprised at how mature she handled the situations she was faced with: 1) taking her medication without her parents wth her 2) showing her friends who were interested how she administers her own shots, 3) being responsible for the transportation of medication which needs special handling, and 4) not missing her 2 doses, even though she was exhausted after running around all day with her friends and having a great time.
Samantha is a bright and conscientious young lady. She accepts the opportunity for increased responsibility and also knows what she is capable of and what she needs assistance with - for the age of 12 she is incredibly self-aware.
I'm extremely proud of Samantha; and today she added to the list of things she continues to learn: accountability and responsibility. She can and should be afforded the opportunity to make age-level choices, and she has shown us she is responsible and capable of doing so.
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