Giving it a try - Growth Hormone shots

I mean seriously... could there be a cuter Jeffrey in Thomas clothes with chronic bed head that I simply cannot get to lay down? NO!

Jeffrey had MORE lab work this morning to have initial numbers on his growth hormone levels. (Poor guy - it took 4 pokes and 2 lab techs to draw his blood!! He didn't even flinch!!!) It is his IGF-1 that has been low on all previous blood work, and this is what the doctor believes is causing his low blood sugar. What has the doctor stumped is that Jeffrey is well within the normal range for height!

So we are giving growth hormone shots a try to see if this will help keep his blood sugar levels up. One shot for 3 nights, and then we will go have more blood work done Monday to see if it is helping. We will have an idea simply by my monitoring his blood sugar at home, but the blood work will give us an idea if his IGF-1 level is up.


So being the obsessive mom with a Masters in Health Administration that I am, I asked for a copy of his most recent blood work. It shows that his urea nitrogen (BUN) levels are high, which could be a sign of kidney issues. I called the nurse back and she said if the doctor didn't say anything about it to not worry about it. Well, why did it flag as out of range if there is nothing wrong? Next I put a call into our local pediatrician. Thankfully he has been amazing with our family for over 13 years. He so graciously looked at the test results, called me, and said that yes the BUN does appear high. Sometimes that can mean a lab error. However, just to be safe, let's retest. I hate to have to put Jeffrey through another poke, but we'll go do that tomorrow.

I've been doing a lot of reading tonight. I am a complete nerd and love doing research and reading medical journals. It is scary to read so many possibilities that are out there with Jeffrey's symptoms, so that is why I stopped and am now blogging (journaling). We'll go with the flow for now. It will take 2 weeks to get blood work back, and by then we'll be ready for the MRI appointment.

Our Aly-oop has kinda been on the backburner since she so graciously has been stable with her blood sugar (not that she can control it). If we ever figure out what is going on with Jeffrey, maybe it will give us more clues as to what is going on with Aly. She has never had many of the symptoms that Jeffrey has, so we've been successful just monitoring her blood sugar and feeding her. But she will be the center of our world this weekend as we celebrate her 4th birthday!! Watch for pictures of this amazing princess birthday cake!