Friday, November 14, 2008

Andrew the Brave

Andrew has been getting a lot of extra attention lately. To make a long story short, he was given a "stim" test to determine if his pituitary glad is working correctly, releasing enough Human Growth Hormone.
He wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight the day of the test or during the five hours it took to administer the test. He was given an i.v. where a very kind nurse drew blood samples every 30 to 60 minutes.
Not fun.

The patient, with an i.v. stuck in his right arm

Well . . . the insertion of the i.v. wasn't fun. Neither was the glucose shot he had 2 hours into the test.

Engaged in his favorite kind of multi-tasking, playing game boy and watching t.v.

But for the most of the day, he was able to play game boy and watch t.v. Once it was all over, he said it wasn't that bad. He didn't want to do it again, but he was happy that both his Mom and Dad could be there with him.

His Mom and Dad are very proud of how brave he was and how well he handled himself.

As for the results: his HGH levels are good. But his body is deficient in a hormone called IGF1. The treatment is two injections a day until he reaches puberty. When given the choice between two shots a day for 6 years or being shorter than his mom, he picked "short". Once he had time to consider it, he thinks the shots won't be so bad. Of course, he may change his mind when we come at him with a needle.

4 comments:

merathon said...

wow-- that is a brave kid! i complained about 1 injection per week when i was pregnant! glad to know they figured everything out though, and that they can do something about it!

Char Lyn said...

Very brave indeed. I predict that within a year or two, he'll want to do the injections himself. When he gets to that point, you'll have to monitor him so he doesn't tried to up his dose so he can be taller than Yao Min!

The Hinjew Crew said...

Awwww...

Very, very brave.

Megan said...

Serious stuff! Aren't you happy to know that they have know-all to diagnose and treat this? He may aspire to be a basketball player, yet.