I am just wondering "why" even tho its really none of my business. Why the choice of the growth hormone to help Anna grow? Did you feel she was too small and needed to grow more, maybe that is her nature to be smaller? Was it her choice??please forgive me if I am being too personal just wondering is all.
Anonymous said...
We need to decide about doing growth hormone treatment too because my kid's body is producing much less growth hormone than normal, so height is short. How has it been? Are the shots hard or painful to do? How much is it helping? How do you feel about it? Thanks!
Anna was tiny when we met her. She reminded me of a firecracker------- a loud, spunky little stick with red hair! She was so stinkin' cute! At seven years old she wore between a 3T and 4T. Her exposure to TB and the course of medicine that followed was what I remember the orphanage doctor telling me could be partially to blame-- but we will never know for sure.
Everyone kept passing her up in height--- even our five year old son was about to pass her up. She was disappointed at not being able to ride the rides at Disneyland or the waterpark and once we found out that she was projected to be only 4'9" as a full grown woman we told her about growth hormone therapy as an option. After considering the risks, the costs, and her quality of life, we decided it was the right thing for our daughter. Of course she had the final say. And her answer was yes. Because growth hormone therapy drugs are very expensive, only when we were approved for co-pay assistance did we start the treatment. And in two months, she has already grown an inch------ which means she has the potential to grow six inches in one year verses the two inches she has been averaging for the last four years.
The shots were scary for both of us at first---- but it is not a big deal. The needle is tiny (after I bought the smallest ones offered) and I rotate giving her the shot in her arms, legs, stomach, and bottom. Now...... she only screams and cries for 20 minutes afterwards instead of forty------ LOL, just kidding. No tears, never had tears---- it's as routine as brushing teeth.
And the next time we go to Disneyland she will be able to ride the rides that say you must be 48 inches tall! Wooo-hooo Anna! She can hardly wait!
If you would like to learn more you can read more about Anna's journey to GHT.
Anna can't ride the ridesAnna's Endo Appointment
11 inspiring thoughts:
Thanks for adding me to your blogroll! And thanks for always answering all of our "nosy" questions about GHT, etc. How did your mom know John before she set the two of you up?
You don't have to be tall to be successful. What I think is good for Anna is to reach a height where fitting into the average-adult sized world is easier and safer. Take seat belts. They are designed for an average height. Cabinets. Stove tops. You name it. I was born with tall genes, so never thought of height much, but as our kids have grown and want to help out in the house more and more, I see how being short can be a real safety issue. Of course, so can being too tall...we find that certain cars are difficult to drive because the seats do not lower enough, and vision is blocked by the rearview mirror or the roof! I have to make sure kitchen cabinet doors are closed properly now because Anna's cousin Brian has the height to really clock himself now... and as he hasn't done it yet and learned the hard way, none of the experience to help him avoid it! And clothes.. clothes are for average sizes only - not short, not tall! Anna is a beautiful girl, and will grow up to be a beautiful woman, no matter how tall. I am simply glad she has had a chance to add a couple of inches for convenience and safety!
You have left out a very important consideration. If a child (person) is GH deficient, he/she will put on fat instead of muscle. This translates into a higher amount of circulating fat and increased risk or cardiovascular disease. These children can die at a much earlier age from CV disease. This was the overriding consideration for us with our son. He never lost his baby belly fat, even when he was 7. Almost a year later, he's leaner & looks like an 8 year old catching up fast with his peers. Some adults need to take GH to maintain this cardiovascular benefit. In my mind, height is a minor consideration compared to an improved cardiovascular profile.
You made the right decision!
My second son was always the smallest in his class-
It never bothered him but as
a parent I wondered how life would be as a very short man.
He had a bone age scan that showed
he had a delay in bone age-
which means he still had alot of
growth left.
So now he is 14.5 and is finally
growing!-
I would have given him GHT
if it was recommended- but he
should grow to be around 5'8"
without them.
Unless you have a child who
falls off the bottom of the
growth chart- it is hard
to judge.
What most people don't know is that growth hormone controls far more than just growth! Growth hormone affects the ENTIRE metabolic system, and when a child (OR ADULT) are deficient in it, there can be damage done . http://magicfoundation.org/www/docs/108/growth-hormone-deficiency-in-children Hormone is crucial for a healthy life. Deficiency includes problems with heart strength, lung capacity, bone density and immune function. My son was on growth hormone for 3 years. He was only deficient in one factor. (there are three factors of gh in the body.) But GH is like a puzzle. If one of the pieces is missing, the other pieces don't go together right. My son wasn't the smallest in his class, but that didn't matter. What did matter was that he STOPPED growing at 5 years old. He started out tall, and by 10 was still wearing a size 8 clothes, and his face had an "elfin" appearance. He was (and still is) incredibly skinny. He's now 6'3, but he only weighs 118 pounds. Can you imagine how skinny that is for an almost 22 year old man? That's because, as an adult, he's still deficient. But his insurance won't cover GHT, and we can't afford it either. Medically speaking he should still be on therapy once a week. Since he's not, with the exception of weight gain, he does have problems common to adult who are still deficient. http://magicfoundation.org/www/docs/105/adult-growth-hormone-deficiency-adults Perhaps you can put some of the medical information about GHD on your blog so people realize it's more than just being short. It's a medical problem.
We made the decision (after talking to doctors, psychologists, etc that were required) NOT to give our son the shots... even though he will be very lucky to reach 4 1/2 feet. There is very little long term research and of the stuff that has been done, cancer was a huge risk. We decided that it was better to be short than give him cancer.
Great post! And to the anonymous above I would rethink your position and get a second opinion. The life of a short man can be very rough some times. My husband can speak from experience and would give his right kidney to be taller. It is your decision as the parent but it is him that will have to live with your decision.
Thank you for the answer, it puts so much in to prospective. How tall do they think she may grow to now that she is on the treatments?
If you look at all that GHT offers, it does NOT only introduce fat instead of muscle growth. Nothing could be further from the truth. Growth hormones that are produced naturally affect the whole body including the metabolic rates, organ growth, etc. And, there is not enough research done to prove it can lead to cancer in the future. So..before you say something, do your research first. My cousin's child was wearing a size 2T at 5 years old. Can you imagine going to kindergarten looking like a toddler? It would be very hard on the child. Not only has it helped him grow, but it has helped his self-esteem to know that he can grow and not be made fun of in the future.
How hard did you have to push to get GH treatment? Our son, adopted from Uganda, is 5 1/2 and wears size 18 month pants. He is the same height as out three year old, also from Uganda, and weighs only 29 pounds. We have seen an EDO, but they just want to keep watch, feeling quite confident that his problems stem from orphan life. Even though test results are all on the low side. I get this response ALL the time from our doctors. "We don't know his parental history." "Malnourishment in the orphanage." I get the same responses over and over. They don't seem to care when I tell them, they were in a great orphanage, there was always plenty of food to go around, they were well loved and cared for, with a 2:1 caregiver ratio. Pulling my hair out here, as this little guy has been home almost a year and not gained a pound and grown very little...just wondering if it was a fight for you to get treatment?
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