One of the things that I’ve been taking care of is figuring out ds6’s medical situation.

I’ll recap some of what I’ve shared previously to get current: He’s been taking thyroid medication since he was two. He has nothing on his medical file to indicate any blood work having ever been taken (it should be taken every three months), who gave this recommendation or why. When I had blood work done, the results were normal.

To confirm that the medication was appropriate for him, the endocrinologist wanted me to get a thyroid scan and uptake done at a hospital. This would verify what his thyroid function was. I submitted the paperwork to the hospital and was told they would call me to make the appointment. My first appointment was scheduled for September but the hospital called the number and address on record and it was the bio mom who was sent the verification and details. While I was waiting weeks and wondering when I was going to get an appointment, I had already missed the appointment for lack of knowing about it.

This week we finally got the scan done. This test entails having a liquid radiotracer injected into the arm, then staying perfectly still while lying on a machine (that looks like this), which slides him into a circular area. Then the top of the machine comes down on top to within a few inches of the face. I was thinking this was an intimidating test for even an adult, let alone a young child. I stood behind him to the side, and held his head for each of the four scans and sang to him while the pictures were taken. He had to stay perfectly still, not even a slight movement in any way was allowed. He was encouraged to move in between while the machine repositioned for the next scan. He was just amazing. Dd6 would have been hysterical if she had to be in this machine for even a half a minute.

I made an appointment immediately with our doctor for follow-up. She said everything looks good – his thyroid is working perfectly. Why has he been taking unnecessary medication for years? We’ll never know how it got onto his record but nothing about it makes sense. We’ll do one more blood test at the beginning of next week, then one more visit back with her to confirm all the tests are pointing to the same conclusion. Our next step was going to be to proceed to bone scans that were the next step to see why he’s small for his age, but she said that’s no longer necessary.

I asked her what will we be considering next as an explanation for why he’s so small for his age. She said that in his case it’s likely trauma that caused him to not develop at a typical rate.

Saying this, she said she wanted to check what his growth looked like since his last visit four months ago. She then measured his height and weight. “Four centimeters!” she proclaimed. “You’re doing great work. That’s stupendous!”

“What does that mean, that it’s stupendous? In what way, compared to what?”, I wanted to know.

She took out a growth curve chart and showed me: the growth for a typical child this age is 6.5 centimeters a year. She explained that a centimeter of growth a month is something you rarely see except during puberty. She said that this clearly indicates he is healing from the trauma that kept him from growing.

She gave me a very warm smile and said, “What you’re doing for him is amazing.”

Isn’t that crazy?! In the best way possible, of course!

I expect when I talk to a therapist, she’s going to see that he’s doing really well. But I didn’t walk into the endocrinologist’s office thinking I was going to hear about the quality of our parenting.

The follow-up report on the adjustment of the twins to our home has already been written and submitted, so our social worker won’t be able to add this. But whether it’s shared with the court or not, I am elated to see physical changes of this sort.

Avivah