Growth Hormones...undecided

Yesterday was our annual appointment with the girls' endocrinologist. I went to the appointment fully expecting her to tell us that the girls definitely needed growth hormone therapy. (Especially after seeing how much shorter the girls are than the rest of their classmates.) Then the doctor came in and started talking about where each girl was on the growth charts and what percentage each girl had grown over the last year.

It's a little confusing, but basically none of the girls are on the growth chart for their age (we knew that already). Their weight compared to height is so-so for Alexa and Emily, and Madison's weight is a little low for her height (ya think?). BUT, Madison had grown at 90% this last year, which means that she had good "catch up" growth. This is GREAT news. Alexa had grown at 50% (average) and Emily was just under 50%. Each of the girls had stayed on their own growth curve (or increased) which is also good.

So after trying to ingest all of that information, the doctor said she was on the fence as to whether or not she thought they needed growth hormone therapy right now. She was pleased to see the good catch up growth from Madison, and said that she was okay with us waiting another year to see how they do. If they continue to do well with catch up growth then there is no reason to intervene. She said for our next appointment we could have an x-ray of the girls hands done to look at their growth plate. This would show us how their growth plate compares to other kids their age and would give us an idea of their potential for more growth. For example, if their x-ray taken at 5 yrs old looks like an x-ray of a 3 yr old, then we should have an additional 2 yrs for them to grow when other kids their age have stopped growing. They would be considered "late bloomers".

The girls have two great aunts that are under 5 ft tall and their uncle was considered a late bloomer, so those are things to consider as well. If we also think about the fact that the girls are too short and too lightweight to move to booster seats, too short for most carnival rides, are difficult to fit for clothes, and are overall very tiny....*sigh*.

Needless to say, we've got a big decision to make and a lot of thinking to do. It's never easy to make a decision like this when there is not an immediate medical necessity. The decision to go forward with Emily & Madison's surgery for their kidneys/ureters was so much easier to make because the consequences of not doing surgery far outweighed the risk of surgery.

The decision is in our hands now as the doctor is okay with waiting or with starting growth hormones. It was a lot to think about, and we haven't made our decision yet. Growth hormone therapy is expensive and is often hard to get approved by insurance. It would require us to give each girl a shot every day, and there are no guarantees that it will even work. YIKES!!!