We're just about a month and a half shy of Abbey turning double digits! How is it possible for time to have gone by so quickly!
If you remember we took Abbey to a specialist back in February, after that appointment he decided he wanted to see her back in June to go over the results of her bloodwork. All her bloodwork came back normal except for the fact that she is vitamin D insufficient (which is a step up from deficient). The doctor prescribed her 1000mg of vitamin D supplements daily. He was not overly worried about this tho and said that the insufficiency has nothing to do with her small stature. He says that 90% of people today are insufficient. Apparently milk does not provide the amount of vitamin D that it was once thought and the majority of your vit D intake comes from the sun. However due to the abundance of sunscreen people now wear to protect against skin cancer, a person's body does not get the vitamin D they need, so therefore supplementation is highly recommended for most people! Hmmm...who knew! Anyway, back to the appointment...the doctor was also concerned that her growth hormone level was on the very low side of normal. However a one time blood draw of GH is not an accurate indicator of your GH levels since the body produces most of its GH while one is sleeping. The doctor wanted her to have a growth hormone stimulation test done. This was done this past Friday. She was hooked up to an IV and administered two different types of medications to stimulate her GHs. She then had blood draws at 30 minute intervals for basically 2 -3 hours. Abbey did amazing. The doctor had prescribed a lidocain cream to rub on her arms at the spot where the IV would be placed. That stuff is amazing! Abbey never even felt the IV go in and all the blood draws came from the IV port once it was in place, so she only had to be stuck that one time and the lidocain did the trick...nary a tear was shed. The most painful part of the whole test was when it came time to remove the IV and the tape that held the port in place was pulled off along with the numerous little hairs on her arm! She was a trooper tho.
We will go back at the end of this month for the results, but based on the information we have received thus far, Abbey is a good candidate for growth hormone therapy. I know GHT is very controversial, but we've done a lot of research. Obviously, we will get some more info once we talk to the doctor at the end of the month, but what we have found out so far is that the controversy comes mainly from the fact that GHT is often abused by people not suffering from growth hormone deficiency in an effort to improve athleticism. The side effects that occur are because they are not under the care of a doctor who monitors them properly.
On a side note, Abbey decided to get her haircut since Kinley has become a fan of latching on with her death grip. She looks so grownie with her new style, but best of all is that she really likes it. None of you know the battles we have endured with that child over her hair not being brushed properly or at all for that matter!
