Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Growth Hormone

Did I ever mention that Julianne gives herself daily growth hormone injections? The whole story with all it's many details would make this post far too long. Suffice it to say, after many tests and months (years, really) of close scrutiny of Julianne's growth rate, Dr. Lindsay (Julianne's long time pediatrician and endocrinologist) formally recommended growth hormone. His expert opinion was that Julianne was looking at 4' 8" as her final adult height. So we, including Julianne, discussed and prayed and fasted and discussed some more. And finally came to the conclusion that we trusted Dr. Lindsay. Injections started on Julianne's 12th birthday back in February. I gave the injections for awhile until Julianne started feeling comfortable enough to take over. We visit Dr. Lindsay every 3 months to chart Julianne's progression. We had one of those visits this past Saturday. Dr. Lindsay was pleased. Julianne is growing as well as he could've hoped...at a rate of 4 inches per year. Julianne was very happy to find out that all those daily pokes have not been in vain.
Setting things up on her "easypod" and inserting the needle.


Cleaning her arm. She rotates between both arms and both legs.


A very matter of fact "ouch" came out of Julianne's mouth after administering this injection. Sometimes they hurt a bit, sometimes they sting. Some days, much to Julianne's delight, she doesn't hardly feel a thing.

5 comments:

Mary said...

What a brave soul! And I'm so glad that they seem to be working. That's wonderful news!

Mindy said...

That's awesome that they are working. I can't believe she does that on her own, i'd be chicken. What a brave girl.

Mindy said...

That's awesome that they are working. I can't believe she does that on her own, i'd be chicken. What a brave girl.

Croft Family said...

Oh I love that Juilanne. What a brave girl. With so much wisdom.

Melissa@thebblog said...

good girl Julianne! I'm proud of you. It'd take me a lot of time to work up to giving myself shots everyday! I'm glad it's for something like growing and not something like Insulin or cancer related - Oh, now i'm feeling all sad and upset about the thought of you being actually sick - I have to go think happy thoughts now. Love you.