I suppose it's time for me to update all on how things are going for Rebekah. Two items for the good news category: 1) the GI specialist decided there was nothing wrong in that field and Rebekah has been eating great for a few months now. 2) We have access to Bishop/Dr. Haymond and the Texas Children's Hospital here. Two items for the not so good news category: 1) Rebekah has to get an MRI next week, complete with general anesthesia to knock her out, to check her pituitary gland for any abnormalities. (The pituitary gland deals with growth.) 2) The results from the different tests done in December revealed that a) for bone age she is on the lowest end of the range (but still in the range, sort of) and b) her blood work revealed that her IGF1 levels are very low. IGF1 stands for Insulin-like Growth Factor 1. IGF1 mediates many of the growth-promoting effects of growth hormone and plays an important role in childhood growth. We have to wait a full six months to have her levels re-tested to determine in they are still low. Dr. Haymond will also determine whether or not Rebekah has grown enough at that time. If she has, than things are good. If she has not grown and her IGF1 is still low then she will be diagnosed with a Growth Hormone deficiency. At that time further testing would be done to determine exactly what needs to happen. Chances are she would end up getting a shot each day, similar to how a diabetic gets an insulin shot every day. This would last until she's almost an adult, or 'til she reaches adult height, I'm sketchy on those details right now.
So here's to hoping she can have a miracle and all will be well in five more months. I hope and pray each day that she will be fine, but if something is to be wrong I want it to be something that can be treated, even if it's by getting a shot every day.
6 comments:
I hope all goes well, and they can determine what you need to do to help her. The Haymonds are great aren't they?
Hang in there! I'm sure things will work out one way or another!
Wow, what an awful lot for you to go through as a parent & poor Beka needing to go through the scariness of a MRI. You guys will be in our prayers and hopefully Everything will workout just fine. In the mean time, 5 months what a long wait, feel free to call any time to vent.
I hope everything will go well with Beks. It's good to have a great specialist like Dr. H in the ward, isn't it?
Thanks for the update. We've been thinking lots about you, N, and R lately. How are YOU doing? We need to chat again soon! I'll try to call you one of these days!
i feel for you--the hardest part definitely is not knowing what you're supposed to do to treat/deal with it--i'll be praying for you to stay sane and get through the mri and get some solid answers.
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