Test Results

We went to the endocrinologist first thing this morning to discuss Abbie's recent blood tests and Xray, which were ordered to determine if precocious puberty has begun, and how far she has progressed into it.

I was most concerned about the Xray, since it would tell us her bone age, thereby telling us roughly how many more years of growth she has left. I was praying to hear "8 or 9" and not "13 or 14". Because brain injuries predispose kids to precocious puberty, I would've been satisfied to hear we were just in the early stages of it. I was in no way prepared to hear what Dr. U. told us. He pulled out the results and explained that there is a two-standard deviation range, which equals about 1 year in Abbie's case, but given that, the radiologist felt that her bones are roughly equivalent to those of a five-year-old. FIVE!!! I started laughing with delight. Her bone age is totally normal. Praise God, praise God, praise God!!

We then went through the results of the blood tests, which focused on hormones related to puberty. They were all within the normal range. These results were correlated to something called the "Tanner Scale" which is used to measure stages of puberty. Abbie was at a Tanner Scale 1, the lowest level, for each hormone! Another hallelujah!

The cherry on top was her thyroid results. I had assumed she was hypothryoidic because of her low voltage. Her free T4 is normal and her TSH is on the low side, but within the normal range. WOW! I thought back to the timing of her blood test and realized we drew it just about the same time we were seeing her voltage really rise. So interesting to see objective data, like the MEAD numbers and blood tests, correlate and point to her marked improvement!

Dr. U. is a terrific physician, who really took time to explain and discuss not only these results, but the future plan for Abbie. We will repeat the labs and Xray in 6 months, just to stay on top of things. I told him, "We are not used to getting such great test results. This is a day to savor!!"

Thank you for your prayers, specifically about the Xray. Our future ballerina still has many years to grow!!