Let me premise this next part by saying I am a chicken. I hate being pushy. It is really hard for me, even in situations like this.... The next morning I called the office of the pediatric endocrinologist. The first opening was in six weeks. So, I begrudgingly took the appointment and figured that we would just wait. My associate/ bestie was sitting there flailing her arms and yelling at me! She told me to not get off the phone and to tell the receptionist the concerns of the other doctor and that they had wanted us to be seen ASAP. Believe it or not, I succumbed and did it. Once I said that, everything changed. She said that she would let the doctor know and that she would have the doctor call that day to talk to us and see if she could fit us in.
That afternoon she called, was as nice as could be, shared the same concerns and said she would fit us in over her lunch break the following Wednesday. It was at this point that Judson and I decided it was time to call in our reinforcements. Katie was due virtually any day with Mia, school was about to end, Levi was sensing all of the problems and acting out and management of all of our work schedules, swim lessons, doctors appointments, drop off and pick up, etc. was becoming quite the nightmare. We called my mother in law who without hesitation got a flight to come out for three weeks to help! She was scheduled to come in that following Thursday, our last day of school, the day after Katie was due. Should be great!!!
So, Wednesday rolled around...Field Day at school. I had arranged to go to the doctor with Judson and my mom during the break between the action. When I woke up I had several messages on my phone. Katie was potentially in labor. Not for sure yet, but the contractions were starting. I went to school and waited, still moving along with our plan, phone in hand. By the time our appointment rolled around at noon the baby was almost here. My mom went to the hospital to be with Katie and my awesome aunt came with us. It was devastating having to make the decision to go with Charlie and possibly miss the birth of my niece. As I got in the car to leave school I called to check in on Katie's progress. It was looking more and more like the baby would be there within the hour. I wasn't going to make it. I think it was the first time in all of this that I was actually sobbing. I don't know why it took until then but for some reason this was my breaking point.
The doctor saw us right away. Fortunately, she spent a lot of time with us and thought that the chances of a tumor were slight. She ordered a bone age study to be performed and a growth hormone analysis to be done. Another round of blood work but that we should have some answers. The second we wrapped up, I bolted. As fast as I could I ran to my car. It was literally a scene out of the movie. I pulled into the valet at the hospital and ran up the stairs, in to the hospital room and made it just in time!!! Phew....
Georgia arrived the next morning and we could breathe a little easier. She and Judson took Charlie for all of her bloodwork and X-rays so that I could make it to my last day of school. We then waited again...as I said, waiting is something we unfortunately are used to at this point. The bone age study was normal. Normal, was not what we were looking for. Normal, means that she is not growing at the right rate! The hope was that her bones would be behind and that she would be able to catch up. We were fine with puberty staring later :) Everything else was fine, growth hormones, etc. The doctor explained that we could go ahead and order an MRI to explore further or wait three to four months to give the medicine some time to work before we had to do another test like this which would include another general anesthetic. We decided at this point we had put Charlie through so much that we wanted to wait. It was summer and we needed a break, Charlie needed a break. We had our Children's Hospital appointment coming up and would be looking forward to a second opinion and what that doctor would be able to tell us in terms of where to go from here.
Summer began and we had a solid three weeks of no appointments, which was bliss! We were able to hang out and enjoy time together. Play with Nana, go strawberry picking, have playdates, play with the new baby, swim and be NORMAL!
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