Thyroid update

We had our follow-up appointment with endocrinology today. The doctor said based on his scan that showed no uptake of the radioactive tracer, plus his 'borderline abnormal' results on his blood work, and the fact that the ultrasound showed he does in fact have a thyroid that she thinks this is transient and might clear up in 6-7 months!! Basically, my antibodies from when he was inside me and used my blood, are blocking his thyroid from working and as he grows his own blood and mine disappears, this could resolve itself. There is still a chance his thyroid won't ever work properly. And because controlling the thyroid in the first 3 years of brain and physical development is so important, he will be on thyroid replacement until he's 3. Then it's not such a big risk and they will take him off meds to see if his thyroid is working. So he needs blood work in 3 weeks to evaluate dosage and a follow-up appointment with endocrinology in 3 months.

So, big sigh of relief just having someone who knows talk to me. I didn't realize I was carrying around such a big ball of worries until they were (mostly) relieved.

I'm still not happy about crushing a pill and trying to get him to drink it. And am going to research if there is an alternative.

I also want to meet with a naturopath and just hear their opinion.

Getting the pill into him is such a stressful thing. I 'spilled' one today after it was crushed. And he puked it back up two days in a row. And I just feel like it's all going to be my fault if he has developmental delays. At my midwife appointment yesterday I received so much encouragement and nice words! Thanks ladies for reassuring me that all will be okay and that we'll get the hang of meds! Those girls are the nicest, most sympathetic, and understanding group of women when it comes to how a mom reacts about her baby. I'm going to miss them!

Children's

We spent the day today at our local Children's Hospital getting tests done on Sullivan's thyroid. It's been measuring "borderline abnormal" since he was born- this was found thanks to a routine newborn blood screening. He's had the two normal ones required in the state of Washington, plus two follow up blood draws and until yesterday I wasn't even thinking about it. Then yesterday around 12:30 or 1, our pediatrician called to tell me that the latest numbers had gone back up and she was going to get us in at Children's today or tomorrow. Talk about a change in the sense of urgency! So I promptly googled and read everything I could on infant thyroid problem, etc.

Today started with a traumatic iv placement followed by a thyroid scan using a radioactive tracer. Sullivan's scans showed no evidence of uptake, meaning his thyroid didn't 'uptake' the tracer they put into his blood stream (and it should). So they had us come back at 1pm for an ultrasound to see if he even has a thyroid (which he does!!! YAY!). So now, we just administer thyroid meds daily and have a follow up with an endocrinologist next Wednesday, back at Children's.

The best part about today (besides having awesome medical insurance, having access to a world-renown Children's Hospital and specialists, and Sullivan having a thyroid) was lunch at The Ram! One of my favorite restaurants, it was a nice break- especially since we didn't have time for breakfast this morning! THEN we managed to hit Happy Hour at Starbuck's on the way home and scored half-price fraps...this momma was in desperate need for some caffeine!