It's been a while - part 2: Endocrinology

I don't remember if I ever got to write about Sadie's precocious puberty.  Yes, her brain was starting to release hormones that started puberty WHEN SHE WAS 2 YEARS OLD!!  What a mess.  Basically I noticed that she was starting to grow boobs.  I didn't even think about how big she was getting so fast.  I thought I was pregnant and I was getting weaker, so she just FELT heavier.  Nope, she's huge.  We completely skipped size 3 clothes.  She literally went from size 2 to size 4.  She even wears some size 5s and has a few things that are 6-7!!  Not to mention the diapers she no longer fit into!

When I mentioned something to Dr. Wendy, she sent a referral to Endocrinology where Dr. Oleson confirmed that that is not uncommon.  Apparently, when children suffer brain damage, it effects the pituitary gland, which is where all your hormones are secreted, which can mess up the timing on puberty.  Everybody just kept telling me it happens all the time in children like Sadie, like that was going to make it better.  It didn't.

Anyway, we X-rayed her wrist where her growth plate is (apparently it's indicating that she's 5), did some blood tests, and even had an MRI to check her pituitary gland (and to make sure there wasn't a tumor) and then it was determined that she needs to start a new medicine called Lupron.  It's an injection she gets every 3 months.  The goal is to suppress the hormones and stop the puberty and the growing, and she has to take it until we want puberty to actually start...so for like 10 years.

Yesterday was her first injection.  

We had to order this medicine from a special pharmacy and they sent it to us in the mail.  It came in this crazy big box (think 4 shoes boxes stacked together) and all it was was a tiny plastic container, about the size of a DVD case.  We brought it with us to the doctor's office and the nurse gave her a shot in her leg.  She didn't even cry.  She is amazing.

This whole situation is just annoying to me.  I'm annoyed we have to see another doctor, I'm annoyed that Sadie is so huge.  I'm annoyed that she has acne and boobs and has even started to get another set of molars!!!  I'm annoyed that we have to give her shots, and that they won't bill her secondary insurance, so every 3 months (for the next 10 years) I have to submit a reimbursement form to ACCCHS.

Usually, when it comes to Sadie, I am sad, or I am grateful that we found and fixed the problem, but this time I'm just annoyed.  The whole thing is just so inconvenient.

...just one more thing they don't tell you could happen when you bring home your brain damaged child from the hospital!