Endocrinology Appointment

Justin had a follow up appointment with the endocrinologist this morning and she was very happy with his growth.  She said he's "grown beautifully" since his last appointment and he continues to follow his own curve.  That being said, he's still only in the 3rd percentile for his age so she sent us across the hall to have an x-ray taken of J's hand to check the age of his bones.  Bone wise he's right on track for his age at 4 years, 9 months so unfortunately we don't have a couple of extra years for additional catch up growth.  So we have a couple of options; we can be aggressive and start hormone growth therapy right now or we can give it some time to see if he has some catch up growth on his own. 

More than likely we will start hormone growth therapy because with his current growth he's predicted to only be 5'2.  And yes I know you're thinking "well Georgina you and Carl aren't that tall" but when I asked at a previous appointment what his height should be based on our heights she said 5'5, 5'6. It's clear that J's prematurity has impacted his growth, how could it not when he weighed only 14.5 ozs and was 10 1/4 inches long at birth.  Not to mention his small size was the culprit of his seizure in August. 

But because we have some time (boys typically stop growing at age 17) we're not in a rush to start it.  We have a follow up appointment in 4 months so we'll reevaluate then.  Even then we may not start it; the Dr. said we've caught it early enough and we really have until about age 12 to really worry so it just depends on how aggressive we want to be.  Ultimately it'll come down to J's health first and foremost, but I'd be lying if I said the social impact of his small size wouldn't be a factor in our decision.