It's not all about me.....wait, maybe it is

Ok, just kidding. It's all about my family.

Today I had an appointment in Louisville with Tretter at the endocrinologist. It rained all the way up there and was uber foggy, but we made it with time to spare. The place was so full we both sat on the floor in the waiting room, but I didn't mind at all. There are so many kids there with more significant problems; I am thankful we could sit on the floor, that Tretter is such a trooper, and that we don't have to go there any more often than we do.

I had a long discussion about both boys with our Nurse Practioner. She is great - more like a mom from mom's group than a doctor, which makes it so easy to talk through things with her. We discussed Whitaker and how he is scheduled to see the new Pediatric Endo in their office. (March 29) She explained to me that it is a woman and she came from Cincinnati Children's, which is supposed to be outstanding. Should we need another opinion about Chiari repair surgery, she would be well-qualified to recommend someone at Cincinnati. He is scheduled for another set of comprehensive back, neck, and head MRIs on May 8 and an appointment 3 days later with the neurosurgeon.

She looked at the X-ray of Tretter's left hand that I had taken with me from Wednesday. By looking at the amount of space left in the growth plates, doctors can tell the bone age of a child, which is not necessarily the same as their chronilogical age. We have been doing this since the boys were one and two, when they first fell of the growth chart at their well-baby visits and were referred to a pediatric endo in the first place. At that time, eight years ago, both boys were diagnosed as being "constitutionally delayed." Today, Tretter's bone age was 7 in the radius/ulna and 8 to 8 and a half in the phalanges. (I am so proud of myself for learning all the medical lingo). She said we will measure him and weigh him again in 4-5 months, whenever we have to bring Whitaker back, so we can calculate Tretter's growth velocity (the rate at which he is growing) at that time. Reassuringly, she said that we have time before the growth plates fuse, should he need growth hormone treatments.

She ordered a lot of bloodwork, which was done in their office today. After discussing Tretter's migraines and urinary issues, she wondered if we needed to do some more MRIs to determine if there is something like a tethered cord or other spinal/cranial issue going on. They will call us and tell us when he will have that and it will take place at Kosair. She is going to call me with results of blood tests and the results of the lumbar MRI and we will go from there. She also gave me the name of the neurologist they use if Tretter does need to see someone about his migraines and they are not tied to another subsequent diagnosis.

Then we went out to eat at an awesome Mexican place across from Trinity High School followed by a solo trip to the mall, which was beautiful, like an out-of-body experience. Okay, maybe not that good, but it was pretty productive. I got the following items: shorts, jeans, and two pairs of kacki pants for John in a smaller size (because he has lost almost 30 lbs.), some rocking Ray-Ban polarized sunglasses to protect his eyes, and a pair of red flip flops for him to wear on our trip; two more two-part bathing suits for the boys for the trip to Cancun (in 7 days); two bras, three pairs of panties, two miniskirts, two t-shirts, two rash guard bathing suit tops, and a package of different-colored Under Armour hairbands - all for ME, myself and Irene. pictures to follow. eventually, when I fix the blog and figure out how to upload pics.

Still have not weighed since before Ash Wednesday. might start to twitch if I think about it too much. Better stop thinking about it. Hope it is going in the right direction. :-0 (that is me freaking out a little bit)