Tuesday 13 February 2018

White coat syndrome

Today G had a routine appointment with her paediatrician. Now you’d think that after nearly five years of regular hospital visits, G would feel at home at our local hospital. Today’s Blood pressure readings said otherwise!

Hormones, headaches & hearts
It has been 10 months since we embarked on G’s growth hormone journey. As I’ve said many times, she is an absolute star with her daily injections now. No bribery has been required for numerous months. Today her consultant reviewed her growth and concluded that the hormones are having the desired effect. Just under 9cm in 12 months. Around 5cm is average. BINGO!

Many people question whether G will be shorter in stature (as is symptomatic of Turner Syndrome), especially due to the recent acceleration in growth. But this will not always be so. Five foot will still be the goal, the latter end of four feet is highly likely. No big deal, height is no indicator of happiness or success. Though how many firefighters come in at a similar height?! Mind you she’s recently been enquiring about becoming a dental nurse, so maybe she’s finally over the fireman Sam and firefighter Penny stage!

There was a question mark over whether to increase G’s daily hormone dosage. However as she’s been experiencing some headaches and dizziness, it was concluded that this wouldn’t be wise at the moment.

We are awaiting a heart scan for G, as per the request of the cardiac consultant who saw G two years ago. There did look to be some minor abnormalities of the aorta last time, I’m praying this isn’t so now. We know the hearts of our TS girls are precious.

Speaking of hearts, today G had her first ever blood pressure reading. Oh my, you’d have thought they were taking her blood. Once we’d had a demo on mummy, and checked every aspect of the cuff and machine for hidden nasties, we sat watching the special numbers on the monitor. Sadly for G the special numbers were rather high and now she requires monthly monitoring. Here’s to hoping it’s a case of white coat syndrome. It is yet another aspect of Turner Syndrome though.

G is due a follow up appointment and bloods in June. Bloods require us to spend time on the paediatric assessment ward with the play therapists due to G’s severe anxiety surrounding any medical procedure. Can’t wait for the heart scan....

In other news:
G is loving half term-today we made leek and potato soup which she devoured.
 H is desperate to crawl, and mummy needs a job. Boooo.
Oh and as lent begins tomorrow, I’ll be doing my annual social media amnesty. I’ve actually been looking forward to it... pick up a pen and paper if you’ve got our address :)