Visit with Endocrinologist

We met with Dr. Ellen Kim today, a pediatric endocrinologist at Children's Memorial. Stella is so tiny for her age, so I wanted to have an initial consultation mostly for peace of mind. Dr. Kim agreed that Stella's weight and height gains show some cause for concern and ordered some tests.

I learned a lot about the pituitary gland during our meeting. Probably the most interesting thing I learned was that issues with the pituitary can show up into a person's 20s, so at the very least Stella will need yearly screens until then. (People born with bilateral anophthalmia often have problems with their pituitary glands.) The most reassuring thing I learned was that any problem that may arise can successfully be managed with synthetic hormones.

Getting Stella's blood drawn was so traumatic. She is a chubby little thing, so it was nearly impossible for them to find a vein, and when they finally did (it required 2 nurses and me) they couldn't get very much blood. This whole time Stella was crying like she was being tortured, which, I guess in a way, she was. It was horrible. I started crying too. I hope I don't have to go through that again any time soon!

We should get the results by the end of test week. Fingers crossed that things are normal!