Endo (growth) update

I have another post for you. It's a festival week of posts! This time, it's about 9-year-old AJ, whose birthday blog post I totally skipped this year, 2 days ago. Oops. I love you more than honey, honey, you're growing so fast and if I had a sweet DSLR I'd post a very sappy soft-focus of you. Mwah! (Quit kissing me, Mom.)

There.

Today's report is from the Pediatric Endocrinology Department, and it is a nice one. In four months, our small darling boy grew 1 full inch (average kids grow 1 inch per 6-8 months), and gained .9 pounds. His weight was measured first, in kilograms. He saw "20.2" on the scale and I swear his eyes nearly welled up. Poor kid. He thought he'd LOST half his body weight overnight. Thankfully, the PA could tell and said, "That's kilos, buddy, not to worry!" 44.5 pounds, I furiously converted on my iPhone. My stomach kind-of flopped, because that didn't seem very significant.

But the doctor came in all smiles telling us enthusiastically about the inch height increase, and everything was fine after that. She asked if we'd be willing to try an oral medication that should stimulate his appetite. We've been trying really hard to push him to eat more, and he HAS, but still isn't gaining quite as fast as she'd like. I feel a little less sure of myself in the summer, because I don't make/see his lunchbox every day, but I know he eats a decent (if not that huge) breakfast and a good dinner. I always rely on big dinner. She said she doesn't want him to put on 10-12 pounds or anything, but 6 pounds in a year would be a good step. (I guess since last October he's added 2 pounds, maybe 3?) So, it's a very low-dose medication and I told her I'd definitely be willing. Better that, than shots, I say.

The overall tone was hopeful, and everything else, she said, is normally developing, if slightly late-bloomer. So we're going to try this easy medicine, 1/2 tablet a night, the only side effect of which might be drowsiness, and see what happens next.

What I'm really glad about was that she focused on his height gain, and didn't make him feel bad about "not eating enough." Sometimes she's made it seem like she blames him. Which is, of course, unfair and ridiculous. But today she was very kind and encouraging.

We high-fived about the height, though, we really did. (As if he worked really hard, hee. BUT MY PRAYERS DID. :))