Day 20 - Endocrinologist visit

Tuesday was our return visit to the Endocrinologist, our first since her actual diagnosis of Graves' Disease. My friend Mary (Riley's mom) was sweet enough to go with Ella and I, Chris was sleeping and my mom was out of town, so that I could ask the doctor a ton of questions and actually get to hear his response without chasing Ella around. It is still just so bizarre to me. The first bit of information he told me is that she is now at a much lesser risk of heart problems, which caught me off guard because while I read that untreated this can cause problems I didn't realize she was at risk before. He said she was likely experiencing palpitations with her numbers the way they were and just not really able to express that to me.

Her numbers are all getting better, with her T4 and Total T4 now just in the "normal" range, her TSH isn't in the normal range yet still at just a 0.18 but it had been at a 0.01 so it's moving in the right direction. Overall the doctor seemed to be pleased with how Ella's body is responding to the medication and so far without any of the side effects. There is a chance that she could go into remission, but if she hasn't in 4 years then she won't and we have to discuss other options because it wouldn't be safe to stay on the meds forever. We do have to make her eye doctor aware of her new diagnosis because Graves' Disease can cause eye problems, including making the eyes bulge out. Luckily??? we see the eye doctor every 3-4 months because of other issues (to be discussed in tomorrows post) so that will be checked out at her appointment in December. The best news out of this was that we don't have to have Ella's blood checked again for four more weeks, when we will check all her thyroid levels as well as her white blood cells and her liver, which is much better!! We go back to the doctor in 5 weeks, hopefully everything continues to go smoothly!

I cannot stress to you parents of kids with Ds enough, GET YOUR CHILD'S BLOOD TESTED EVERY YEAR!!! We would not have had any clue all this was going on in Ella's little body, and probably wouldn't until she would have started having some very serious problems. Our kids don't always display the same signs and symptoms as other children, nor can they express as easily that something is off.


Tuesday was also Hunter's picture day at school. We had a little practice session on how to smile. Hunter has the most wonderful smile in the world, when it is not a fake one, LOL. I was taking pictures to show him the difference. These are "good" smiles!

Even this is a good smile, just needed to open his eyes : )

Love this one. My boy is so handsome, and looking so grown up these days!

Ella of course had to get in on the action. She also has a great natural smile, her fake one...not so much!

Ella and baby "Lexi" who had to be in the picture!

Alas, here is the school picture, sent yesterday to my email. It's not horrible, but not my favorite. Not sure why I pay for these every year : ) Oh well!!!