Someone Isn't Growing

Something big happened to little Henry.  He's started taking daily growth hormone shots.  This has been in the works for almost a year.  All my boys are short but Henry is much smaller than all of them have ever been.  I did research, talked to people in similar situations, and was ready to not take no for an answer.  The doctors always just tell me since Randy and I are short, we are going to have short kids.  And they are correct.  But neither of us are crazy short.  And don't get me started on why it's so impossible for even one of our kids to be a little taller than Randy.  Seems like most families have kids taller than the parents but not us.  We are cursed.  

Anyway, I took Henry to a pediatric endocrinologist and she said all the same things about not being concerned about Henry but she'd do some tests to check things out.  After another x-ray of his hand, an all-day growth hormone test, and an MRI, we found out Henry actually doesn't produce hardly any growth hormone.  His pituitary gland is working just fine so we don't know the cause but we do know he isn't growing.  Even his baby teeth aren't falling out so everything about him has just stopped.

The good news is insurance is covering the shots which are $30,000/year.  The bad news is that Henry has to have these daily shots in the butt until he hits puberty which will be about 10 years from now.  The other bad news is the shots will only help him to be two inches above or below the average growth rate of Randy and me which is 5'8".  That means Henry could only reach 5'6" or as tall as 5'10". That's hardly worth it but when I said that to the doctor, she said if I don't do the shots, Henry won't even hit 5'6".  So shots it is!  

Eventually Henry will be able to do them on his own but for now, he acts like it's a big deal and it's a two-man job where one of us gives the shot while Parker softly pats Henry on the back.  It's so cute! Grow Henry, grow!

The first box of growth hormone supplies.  I can't wait to see the picture of him with the last box!