History

Okay, I have come to the conclusion that I cannot possibly text, email, and facebook message everyone that I care about through this lovely new development in our lives. So, you get the whole package - on my crazy self blog, which only a few people know about and NO ONE reads, I am going to put updates about my kiddos.

Here's the LOOOOONGGG version, because I am assuming if you are reading this it's because you want to.

When Whitaker was 2 and Tretter was 1, the Dr. that we see here in our hometown of Tell City, who, for the purposes of this blog will be "Dr. M." sent us to an endocrinologist in Louisville at Kosair Children's Hospital because both boys had fallen off the growth chart. There was NO eveidence of failure to thrive, as their emotional, physical, and intellectual development was all advanced.

At the endocrinologist, they were measured, weighed, had blood taken and hand x-rays (to check bone age) every six months or a year for several years. Both boys were diagnosed as being constitutionally delayed, which in lay person's terms means that they would simply be late-bloomers, possibly growing to their full adult potential in the years following high school. There are no other general symptoms and no risks to being constitutionally delayed....it just means that a child's bone age is not the same as their chronological age.

Somewhere around age 5, Tretter was released from the endo until further concerns arose because his growth velocity (rate of height increase/time) was more normal and his size was closer to average. Whitaker continued to be seen every six months or a year and his height and weight were charted.

Last November, at an appointment with our pysician at the endocrinologist, (we'll call her Dr. S.)she realized that Whitaker's growth velocity had slowed and mentioned that since he is getting close to 10, we may want to go ahead and have the testing done to see if he may have a growth hormone deficiency, although it is assumed up to this point to be just constitutional delay and short stature due to familial short stature. She explained that their office only uses Kosair hospital and asked me what kind of insurance we have. I told her we had Anthem; she made a face and then glanced down at the newspaper sitting on the desk. The headline sayed something such as, "Norton Settles with Anthem."
Relieved, she said, "Oh, good, they have been arguing and Kosair wasn't accepting Anthem but it looks like they worked it out." She wrote the order for his stim test (growth hormone stimulating test) to take place at Kosair hospital. The appointment was set for December 15.
On December 23, we spoke with her and she diagnosed him with a growth hormone deficiency as he had failed both stimulation tests. She said she would order the growth hormones, order training for us to administer the shots, and that it was routine for them to do an MRI to check for pituitary or hypothalamus tumors before they start hormones.

Symptom tracker
Whitaker has increasingly shown signs of fatigue, lethargy and general lack of energy over the last few years. Despite wanting to be active and athletic, he struggles with coordination. One time last year he fouled out of a basketball game in the first quarter because he kept running into people. He also complains of headaches but not migraines. His headaches happen when exerting himself. After every soccer game, and playing hard in the back yard, he says the back of his head hurts. He also has severe headaches in the back of his head when he coughs. We just told him to drink more water and that he might not be in very good shape. Nice. I am sure that we have accused him of being lazy. We were hopeful (and still are) that the growth hormones would help give him the balance of what his body wasn't making for itself that would increase his energy level and improve his metabolism.


Tretter began having headaches followed by episodes of vomiting at age 3. We tried to track them to see if they were related to allergies, stress, nutrition, etc. Basically we got nowhere, but we did see a stress connection and lack of sleep connection. He had 4 or 5 migraines each year in Kindergarten through 2nd grade and we thought that they might be diminishing in frequency, but not by much. As he grew older, he became more able to tell us when he was getting one and sometimes he would fall asleep before he got sick; sometimes I could give him Motrin and it would help. Sometimes I could give him Motrin and it wouldn't help.

Tretter also has had problems with bladder control for his entire life.......not just bed-wetting at night, but during the daytime as well. He had to tinkle so often that I had his urine checked three times by 1st grade because I was sure he had a kidney infection or a bladder infection or kidney reflux or cancer or something. The urine tests always came back clean and clear and we were told not to worry that it could be just part of his constitutionaly delay.

In July 2009, Dr. M. was concerned about his continued lack of control and thought it might be physiological. He ordered an abdominal ultrasound and an abdominal x-ray to check for abnormalities or problems, and, again referred us to a specialist. We took him to a urologist in Louisville who will be referred to as "Dr. J." and he was so nice to Tretter. He reviewed the reports with us and explained that there is absolutely nothing physically wrong with his kidneys, bladder, urine, or anything in the urinary tract. This was a relief, obviously. Dr. J. said there are some meds available to help dry him up so he would not have to go so often. We were NOT keen on that idea at all, and he was seemed very pleased to prescribe him NOTHING. He joked with Tretter that all the old men in the waiting room would be jealous that he doesn't have problems with "dribbling." We left there both relieved and confused, but mostly just thankful for a clean report on the area. His bladder control problems continue, and we make it a "non-issue."
If he wets the bed, he climbs in our bed and says, "I'm sorry, I accidentally wet the bed."
I say, "That's okay, sweetheart, you don't have to be sorry. Climb in." That's the end of it.
I change the sheets often but what mom doesn't have to change the sheets often for one reason or another?