So...I just got a call about Mikeal's bloodwork that was done yesterday to check his thyroid levels. The results all came back within perfectly normal range. Which is great, except for the fact for the last 18 months he's been on thyroid medication, but has failed MISERABLY at taking it this summer, so hasn't taken it, and the last time I remember him taking it was while we were on vacation, back in June, and that's about his assessment as well - I know, horrible mother. So, he's not taken his thyroid med, every blood test we've had in the past, with him having taken the med, basically as he's supposed to has also came back within perfect range, but also so has this one where he's not taken the med. He is on the lowest possible dose of the thyroid medication anyways, so he's to not take it for the next 6 wks, then will have his levels checked again. This doc is also ordering an echocardiogram, since that's what I wanted in the first place, 18 months ago, when he was diagnosed as having hypothyroidism....
Back history on that involves Mikeal displaying some similar characteristics as my dad, when my dad was a kid, that included fainting spells, black-outs & the like, but wasn't diagnosed as having a congenial heart condition until he was in his early 30s, after having almost died from a massive heart attack & stroke...even then the condition wasn't caught until the second massive heart attack, after the doctor made him do the echo stress test for 3 solid hours. Mikeal was in wrestling when the fainting spells, etc started happening all the time, he's had no such spells since I've pulled him from wrestling...But what do I know, I'm just a high school educated "over protective-hypochondriac" mother...which, let me assure you, I am not.
ANYWAYS...
I had my check-up today - all that wonderful yearly girlie stuff & of course new doctor, so new guesses as to different things that may or may not be wrong with me. My shrink wants me checked out for PCOS as well. Of course the doc considered it, but doesn't think it's my issue, but she'll check it out just in case - so next week I get to go in for a wonderful glucose & insulin check, have my blood drawn & tests run on it for possible thyroid issues, etc. Of course she also did a hCg urine test because I'm on day 40 of my cycle, it came back negative, but if I don't start by the time I come in again she's going to order a blood hCg test, which I'm confident will still show me as negative.
My urine test also showed that my white blood count is higher than normal, but for as long as I can remember, at least since my pregnancy with Mikaila, it's always been slightly elevated when it's been checked, resulting in docs giving me antibiotics, all the freaking time for a UTI that I didn't have, trust me, I know if I have one, I've only ever had one...but she also did my breast exam & thought that my breasts were not completely as soft as they 'should' be & more tender than what she thinks they should be, so is going to wait until after all the lab tests come back & see if the tenderness/hardness lessens over the next week or two then will call in an order for me to have a mammogram or ultrasounds done of my boobs. Yay me. She said it was likely just fibrocystic something of another, but at the same time, when one adds in the elevated white blood count it could be something more gut wrenching. I'm fairly optimistic about it, especially since my mom has gone back and forth multiple times for extra screenings only for the lumps to be strictly water cysts...
Ugh...so over the last two days I've gone from being told my son has hypothyroidism to saying maybe he doesn't after all, but they'll check his thyroid levels again in 6 wks and we're also goign to do more extensive heart tests...and then me going from relatively healthy to "there may be something serious going on here".
Showing posts with label Hypothyroidism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hypothyroidism. Show all posts
Friday, July 22, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
The Kids Have Grown
Every year before school starts I take the kids in for physicals/wellness checks. Mikeal's wellness check is basically in line with his birthday, seeing as his birthday is at the end of August & school starts at the beginning of July. Mikaila's before school check is roughly 6 months before her birthday, but she's still at an age where docs want her to be seen to check for progress, etc every 6 months, so it works. It is also less hassle for me to just knock both out at the same time, but I'm sure next year I'll start doing Mikaila's in December, more in line with her actual yearly birthday.
This time LAST year Mikeal was 46 inches tall & weighed 80lbs. Today...Mikeal weighs 107lbs and is 55inches tall. Doc said his BMI was in perfect range, even if he does have a bit of a belly on him, even though the doc last year called Mikeal obese...oh I wanted to slug that jerk.
This time last year Mikaila was 37lbs and 36 inches tall. Today...Mikaila weighs 37lbs and is 40 inches tall. Same story with the BMI.
Otherwise the kids seem to be in good health. Mikeal had another blood test ran to check his thyroid levels, this time without having taken his medication this morning (pure accident, but still) and we'll determine how his levels compare without medication to with medication. He's on the lowest dose possible of the thyroid medication and seeing as he's on the thyroid medication as a result of testing being done to find out why he was having fainting spells about 18 months ago & the blood tests done then we'll see how it all really adds up. The new doc is also going to have him see the pediatric cardiologist & have an echo-cardiogram done to see how things look compared to his last one about 4 years ago. I want to believe he's as perfect as all these tests claim him to be, repeatedly, however I also know my dad had repeated tests come back perfect and it wasn't until he was given a 3hour stress test, while hooked up to the echo machine that they actually saw his heart valves hiccup, etc. I'm hoping that if Mikeal has the same thing as my dad that it's caught before he falls over from a massive heart attack at a very early age.
Mikaila is still pretty well good to go...showed off her gravity checking abilities, her jumping abilities, etc. She's a bit like her momma - she can run & hop across flat level surfaces, but try getting her to walk across that same level surface invokes a gravity check. It was noticed that within the last few months she lost the tube in her right ear, no clue when it may have fallen out..and she still barely has the tube in her left ear. She sees the ENT again on the 26th to see about having her tonsils removed and maybe a new set of tubes put in, but I won't know until the 26th.
But that's the new bits. Yay for reasonably healthy kids and intelligent doctors that actually listen to me and don't treat me like I don't know things, especially where it concerns my children & the health history of my family then how one mimics another, but because one was untreated it became very deadly when it was all 'perfect'.
This time LAST year Mikeal was 46 inches tall & weighed 80lbs. Today...Mikeal weighs 107lbs and is 55inches tall. Doc said his BMI was in perfect range, even if he does have a bit of a belly on him, even though the doc last year called Mikeal obese...oh I wanted to slug that jerk.
This time last year Mikaila was 37lbs and 36 inches tall. Today...Mikaila weighs 37lbs and is 40 inches tall. Same story with the BMI.
Otherwise the kids seem to be in good health. Mikeal had another blood test ran to check his thyroid levels, this time without having taken his medication this morning (pure accident, but still) and we'll determine how his levels compare without medication to with medication. He's on the lowest dose possible of the thyroid medication and seeing as he's on the thyroid medication as a result of testing being done to find out why he was having fainting spells about 18 months ago & the blood tests done then we'll see how it all really adds up. The new doc is also going to have him see the pediatric cardiologist & have an echo-cardiogram done to see how things look compared to his last one about 4 years ago. I want to believe he's as perfect as all these tests claim him to be, repeatedly, however I also know my dad had repeated tests come back perfect and it wasn't until he was given a 3hour stress test, while hooked up to the echo machine that they actually saw his heart valves hiccup, etc. I'm hoping that if Mikeal has the same thing as my dad that it's caught before he falls over from a massive heart attack at a very early age.
Mikaila is still pretty well good to go...showed off her gravity checking abilities, her jumping abilities, etc. She's a bit like her momma - she can run & hop across flat level surfaces, but try getting her to walk across that same level surface invokes a gravity check. It was noticed that within the last few months she lost the tube in her right ear, no clue when it may have fallen out..and she still barely has the tube in her left ear. She sees the ENT again on the 26th to see about having her tonsils removed and maybe a new set of tubes put in, but I won't know until the 26th.
But that's the new bits. Yay for reasonably healthy kids and intelligent doctors that actually listen to me and don't treat me like I don't know things, especially where it concerns my children & the health history of my family then how one mimics another, but because one was untreated it became very deadly when it was all 'perfect'.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Explaining it all...
I know I've been vague in some of my posts recently. Just a lot has been going on and a lot of things were up in the air. I don't like to be an alarmist and try not to freak out or worry others before I have all the information, it's just not my style. I like to get all my information, all my facts, and have a better handle on things before I share with everyone. There are some people that know my play by play, but only because they're key elements in me being able to get to the other side to share with everyone.
Here I talked about Big Changes. Now that we're two week down the road and have everything rolling in that direction and getting ready to take off I'll share. We're moving to Tennessee. Brian is going to be transferring out there, so there is no issue on that front, he'll still have his years of tenure at his employer, still eligible for his benefits, raises, and promotions...there's just better opportunity for those raises and promotions to take place in an area where there has been steady and substantial growth in his field, as well as it's a much more populated area, all things that work in our favor...MUCH more so than being in this stagnant area that we've been in for the last few years. There's not going to be much growth here, period. This town and area is likely about as big as it's ever going to be - maybe 25,000 people for the whole county, with anything to do, jobs included being a minimum of a 30 minute drive, move of it being over a 2 hour drive, one way. We'll be living right outside of Nashville.
I'll also have the opportunity to put the kids into daycare, so that I can go to work, HUGE bonus there, not just because of the money I could bring in but also because I'll be able to get out and feel like I'm contributing to society. Nothing against stay-at-home-moms, but it's just not in my personality.
We're leaving out on Tuesday, after I'm done testifying against my ex-husband in court.
That moves me onto my next part of this...the court hearing.
My ex was released on a felony charge, with 4 years probation, back on the 23rd of December. Now I'd warned the judge that he wasn't going to follow through with paying it. After all this now makes the 3rd time she's released him in the last year...the last time he made a payment was on the 24th of February of 2009, almost a year ago. He's made almost THREE payments since the child support was first ordered in February of 2006. He's now trying to take me to court. Now mind you, he was released in December on probation, probation that states he's not allowed to miss a single payment for the next 4 years or he goes straight back to jail for the duration of that four years OR he pays the $10,000+ that he owes in back support, whichever comes first. It's nearing the end of February, still haven't received a payment...so he's taking me to court.
Why is he taking me to court?
I asked my caseworker about this...my ex is claiming that I haven't allowed him any visits with Mikeal. Unfortunately that just proves that my ex is incapable of reading what the divorce decree states.
The decree states:
The Petitioner is granted custody of the parties' minor child, Mikeal ****.
The Respondent's right to visitation is suspended due to his incarceration, and that upon the Respondent's release he shall be entitled to SUPERVISED visitation with the parties' minor child on the second Saturday of each month, beginning the month after his release, from 2:00pm until 4:00pm. The Respondent may not modify the custody or visitation provisions of this Decree until he has filed with the Court proof of his completion of the Helping Children Cope with Divorce, or similar program.
Added by the judge in writing: Both parties are required to complete Helping Children Cope with Divorce within 30 days of this order and much file a completion certificate before seeking relief from this decree.
The dumbass has yet to take the course, much less file with the courts a certificate of completion, so he can't change it, for one. SECONDLY...it states SUPERVISED visits on the 2nd Saturday of the month, from 2-4pm. Meaning he has to petition the court for a court approved supervisor to oversee the visitations, another thing that he has yet to do. This is all for my son's protection. My ex is a registered sex offender who, with the help of his mother, has kidnapped Mikeal and ran off with him for a few months, when he was just barely two years old.
I'm going to get the biggest kick out of seeing him actually show up for this hearing and try to convince the judge that because he's not made an attempt at either of these two conditions of visitation gives him the right to not have to pay child support...child support that he's currently on probation for not paying, and has not paid since being released on probation. The judge here she stops giving a person a chance after they've fucked up so many times, ESPECIALLY when she's been as gracious as she can be with such a loser. She's going to laugh at him, tell him tough titty, and have the bailiff escort him down to the county jail - which sits in the basement of the courthouse.
OK. Moving on.
Here I blogged about many things in our world coming crashing down. At that particular time we were given some fairly grim news about Brian's legs. He's had a bum knee for a while, sometime during Christmas he slipped and started wearing his fancy brace full time on that knee. Well, as a result of the combined slip and favoring that knee his shin on the other leg became QUITE inflamed. We tried to treat it for a month and it just wasn't getting better, instead seemed to be getting worse. So he went to be seen, after we had the money for the doctor's visit. They did x-rays, but because of all the swelling and inflammation they we're able to tell what all was going on, they were quite sure this his tendons had ruptured, meaning surgery. And because they were going to be doing surgery on the one they might as well as do the surgery on his bad knee at the same time to cut down on the chance of re-injury by favoring the bad one, visa versa. He does definitely need surgery on the one knee, eventually. So here I was sitting on thinking my husband is going to be out of work for a while for double leg surgery, I have a 2 year old that I haven't been able to find childcare for, in an area where finding a job is like finding a needle in a haystack - DIFFICULT - all that to be known in less than a week's time, on whether he'd need the surgery or not.
He rested up best he could, called in from work one day, had the next two days off, went back to the doctor who'd splinted it up pretty good and had asked he come back in a week to see if the swelling and inflammation had come down. THANKFULLY the swelling went down and the doc was better able to see what was going on with him; turned out to just be shin splints. Told Brian to go on light duty for a month, check back in, and it should be healed enough for him to go back to work as normal. His employer stated they weren't able to accommodate him with light duty, so gave him the month off under FMLA. NO big deal, seeing as we'd just gotten our income tax refund so had a bit of a cushion from that to pay up and ahead on all of our bills for a few months.
That brings us back to why we're moving. That morning BEFORE we knew what was going on with Brian having to have surgery or not our landlord's husband - who REFUSES to even take the rent payment if his wife isn't home - comes POUNDING on our door at 6am, before we're even out of bed, to chew us out over we better not be trying to screw over his wife, because Brian missed ONE day of work in over TWO years of even being at this job, AND to add insult to that rent wasn't even DUE for another 48 hours, wasn't even late for another 7 days, we've NEVER missed a payment NOR have we even been late in almost 2 years of living here. - THAT was the catalyst to us deciding to move and make such an extreme move. Later that day, after the doctor's appointment and Brian talking to his boss about the restrictions, it was confirmed that this was the best timing for us to move. Brian being off from work for a month, a house being open and in our price range, that we can move into by the end of the month, then a week later the job transfer was confirmed. Of course we were detained here by my having to show for court next week, so that sucked.
Another thing that came crashing down at the VERY same time that Brian first went to the doctor was Mikeal started having some VERY noticeable health issues. Passing out being the BIG thing. I talked to my mom about it at that point, eventually, and I found out that according to her that was how my dad's heart issues started presenting themselves, so I panicked a bit. This is my baby. My daddy died at age 44 from a heart attack, his heart issue wasn't diagnosed until he was in his early 30s, but the clues of it had been there all his life. So I got Mikeal into the doctor, insisted that the doc not take me lightly, and to my surprise he didn't argue with me, he knew I wasn't messing around with this. Blood work was done there and an appointment was set for March to follow up with a pediatric cardiologist...I'll have to transfer that to his new doc in the Nashville area, but that's not a big deal. From the blood work we found out that Mikeal has a thyroid issue, blogged about here.
Lengthy, I know. But I had to wait until we got closer to this point. Nearly everything is packed up. Monday we get the rental truck and load it. Tuesday I go to court at 10am. Directly after being done there we're headed down the road. We should be in our destination city by roughly 10pm.
Have a good day. I'll post more details of our move and our new house once we get settled in and everything turned on. :D
Here I talked about Big Changes. Now that we're two week down the road and have everything rolling in that direction and getting ready to take off I'll share. We're moving to Tennessee. Brian is going to be transferring out there, so there is no issue on that front, he'll still have his years of tenure at his employer, still eligible for his benefits, raises, and promotions...there's just better opportunity for those raises and promotions to take place in an area where there has been steady and substantial growth in his field, as well as it's a much more populated area, all things that work in our favor...MUCH more so than being in this stagnant area that we've been in for the last few years. There's not going to be much growth here, period. This town and area is likely about as big as it's ever going to be - maybe 25,000 people for the whole county, with anything to do, jobs included being a minimum of a 30 minute drive, move of it being over a 2 hour drive, one way. We'll be living right outside of Nashville.
I'll also have the opportunity to put the kids into daycare, so that I can go to work, HUGE bonus there, not just because of the money I could bring in but also because I'll be able to get out and feel like I'm contributing to society. Nothing against stay-at-home-moms, but it's just not in my personality.
We're leaving out on Tuesday, after I'm done testifying against my ex-husband in court.
That moves me onto my next part of this...the court hearing.
My ex was released on a felony charge, with 4 years probation, back on the 23rd of December. Now I'd warned the judge that he wasn't going to follow through with paying it. After all this now makes the 3rd time she's released him in the last year...the last time he made a payment was on the 24th of February of 2009, almost a year ago. He's made almost THREE payments since the child support was first ordered in February of 2006. He's now trying to take me to court. Now mind you, he was released in December on probation, probation that states he's not allowed to miss a single payment for the next 4 years or he goes straight back to jail for the duration of that four years OR he pays the $10,000+ that he owes in back support, whichever comes first. It's nearing the end of February, still haven't received a payment...so he's taking me to court.
Why is he taking me to court?
I asked my caseworker about this...my ex is claiming that I haven't allowed him any visits with Mikeal. Unfortunately that just proves that my ex is incapable of reading what the divorce decree states.
The decree states:
The Petitioner is granted custody of the parties' minor child, Mikeal ****.
The Respondent's right to visitation is suspended due to his incarceration, and that upon the Respondent's release he shall be entitled to SUPERVISED visitation with the parties' minor child on the second Saturday of each month, beginning the month after his release, from 2:00pm until 4:00pm. The Respondent may not modify the custody or visitation provisions of this Decree until he has filed with the Court proof of his completion of the Helping Children Cope with Divorce, or similar program.
Added by the judge in writing: Both parties are required to complete Helping Children Cope with Divorce within 30 days of this order and much file a completion certificate before seeking relief from this decree.
The dumbass has yet to take the course, much less file with the courts a certificate of completion, so he can't change it, for one. SECONDLY...it states SUPERVISED visits on the 2nd Saturday of the month, from 2-4pm. Meaning he has to petition the court for a court approved supervisor to oversee the visitations, another thing that he has yet to do. This is all for my son's protection. My ex is a registered sex offender who, with the help of his mother, has kidnapped Mikeal and ran off with him for a few months, when he was just barely two years old.
I'm going to get the biggest kick out of seeing him actually show up for this hearing and try to convince the judge that because he's not made an attempt at either of these two conditions of visitation gives him the right to not have to pay child support...child support that he's currently on probation for not paying, and has not paid since being released on probation. The judge here she stops giving a person a chance after they've fucked up so many times, ESPECIALLY when she's been as gracious as she can be with such a loser. She's going to laugh at him, tell him tough titty, and have the bailiff escort him down to the county jail - which sits in the basement of the courthouse.
OK. Moving on.
Here I blogged about many things in our world coming crashing down. At that particular time we were given some fairly grim news about Brian's legs. He's had a bum knee for a while, sometime during Christmas he slipped and started wearing his fancy brace full time on that knee. Well, as a result of the combined slip and favoring that knee his shin on the other leg became QUITE inflamed. We tried to treat it for a month and it just wasn't getting better, instead seemed to be getting worse. So he went to be seen, after we had the money for the doctor's visit. They did x-rays, but because of all the swelling and inflammation they we're able to tell what all was going on, they were quite sure this his tendons had ruptured, meaning surgery. And because they were going to be doing surgery on the one they might as well as do the surgery on his bad knee at the same time to cut down on the chance of re-injury by favoring the bad one, visa versa. He does definitely need surgery on the one knee, eventually. So here I was sitting on thinking my husband is going to be out of work for a while for double leg surgery, I have a 2 year old that I haven't been able to find childcare for, in an area where finding a job is like finding a needle in a haystack - DIFFICULT - all that to be known in less than a week's time, on whether he'd need the surgery or not.
He rested up best he could, called in from work one day, had the next two days off, went back to the doctor who'd splinted it up pretty good and had asked he come back in a week to see if the swelling and inflammation had come down. THANKFULLY the swelling went down and the doc was better able to see what was going on with him; turned out to just be shin splints. Told Brian to go on light duty for a month, check back in, and it should be healed enough for him to go back to work as normal. His employer stated they weren't able to accommodate him with light duty, so gave him the month off under FMLA. NO big deal, seeing as we'd just gotten our income tax refund so had a bit of a cushion from that to pay up and ahead on all of our bills for a few months.
That brings us back to why we're moving. That morning BEFORE we knew what was going on with Brian having to have surgery or not our landlord's husband - who REFUSES to even take the rent payment if his wife isn't home - comes POUNDING on our door at 6am, before we're even out of bed, to chew us out over we better not be trying to screw over his wife, because Brian missed ONE day of work in over TWO years of even being at this job, AND to add insult to that rent wasn't even DUE for another 48 hours, wasn't even late for another 7 days, we've NEVER missed a payment NOR have we even been late in almost 2 years of living here. - THAT was the catalyst to us deciding to move and make such an extreme move. Later that day, after the doctor's appointment and Brian talking to his boss about the restrictions, it was confirmed that this was the best timing for us to move. Brian being off from work for a month, a house being open and in our price range, that we can move into by the end of the month, then a week later the job transfer was confirmed. Of course we were detained here by my having to show for court next week, so that sucked.
Another thing that came crashing down at the VERY same time that Brian first went to the doctor was Mikeal started having some VERY noticeable health issues. Passing out being the BIG thing. I talked to my mom about it at that point, eventually, and I found out that according to her that was how my dad's heart issues started presenting themselves, so I panicked a bit. This is my baby. My daddy died at age 44 from a heart attack, his heart issue wasn't diagnosed until he was in his early 30s, but the clues of it had been there all his life. So I got Mikeal into the doctor, insisted that the doc not take me lightly, and to my surprise he didn't argue with me, he knew I wasn't messing around with this. Blood work was done there and an appointment was set for March to follow up with a pediatric cardiologist...I'll have to transfer that to his new doc in the Nashville area, but that's not a big deal. From the blood work we found out that Mikeal has a thyroid issue, blogged about here.
Lengthy, I know. But I had to wait until we got closer to this point. Nearly everything is packed up. Monday we get the rental truck and load it. Tuesday I go to court at 10am. Directly after being done there we're headed down the road. We should be in our destination city by roughly 10pm.
Have a good day. I'll post more details of our move and our new house once we get settled in and everything turned on. :D
Friday, February 12, 2010
Mikeal has Hypothyroidism
Google is my worst enemy today...
A few weeks ago Mikeal told me that he was having passing out spells, three total that we're aware of to be exact, since around Christmas. Because of him starting wrestling around the same time that these things were going on I at first chalked it up to dehydration. We hydrated him, things seemed to be "fine", but then again there was no specific rhyme or reason to the black out spells, so didn't know what to think of it. Earlier this month my mom had a package for me on my child support stuff, so I had to go over there and get it....now my mom and I haven't talked AT ALL since Thanksgiving, so she didn't know of any of this stuff, etc. While I was there to get my mail from her we talked for a bit, it was actually a pleasant time, so I told her about all that was going on with the kids, what was going on with Mikaila starting therapy, my health issues and how they were resolved, and indulged her in some of the points of Mikeal's new issues. I left her place scared out of my gourd because she was able to tell me that a lot of what I had described about Mikeal was quite similar to my dad's starting issues. In case it's not known my dad had a heart condition that he had all of his life, but it was never detected until he'd undergone some serious tests, at age 32 when he had his first major heart attack. He died at age 44 from heart related issues and cancer.
Today I was called about the results of his blood work. The nurse said that Mikeal's blood levels and thyroid levels were low, so want to start him on a thyroid medication and to check back in 6 weeks for more blood work. Of course we're going to be moving during this time so I'll have to reschedule with a cardiologist in our new area and a doctor there for the follow-ups...
I went ahead and googled a bit to get more information...
BUT the information I got doesn't seem to really "fit" Mikeal...the information mentions things like stunted growth - he's in the 95% for both height and weight - and learning problems - he's in 2nd grade, top of his class, doing most things at a 4th-6th grade level - being the two big "clues" that there may be something going on. Other things mentioned were an increased sensitivity to cold...I have to FIGHT with him to put a coat on, and it's a battle to get him to wear gloves and a hat, even when it's only in the single digits outside and he'd play outside all day in such temps if I let him. It did mention fatigue, but he sleeps from about 8pm until 6-8am (depending on if he's trying to get out of riding the bus to school). Other things that were mentioned were autoimmune disorders such as Graves disease and Hashimoto thyroiditis or associated with diabetes and celiac disease.
I just feel a bit overwhelmed with it all.
Supposedly the nurse is going to give me a call back later, after she's done seeing patients, to answer my questions (I hope) but I don't feel really all that "great" about getting to the probable cause of Mikeal's recent black out spells... 
that or maybe I'm just a bit disappointed that it came back with something I wasn't expecting, instead of what I was preparing myself to hear.
And now I'm full of every sort of question about this, follow-ups, ways to check for maybe one of the other things as being the cause, etc...and feel like I'm going to be brushed off...I'm not fond of the nurse because at Mikeal's last well check-up I had mentioned some things that seemed a bit "off" about Mikeal and she blew it off as just "normal" 7 year old boy stuff. I feel awful now for just rolling with it because Mikeal has never been able to be classified as "normal" ...I really thought that people were exaggerating "terrible twos" because Mikeal was a blessing, and his 3 year old year was only really terrible for about a month...Mikaila has given me a whole new take on "normal"...but Mikeal, no.
And now having googled, and thinking more about it, the concerns I'd brought up with her, back in August, actually match more with the information I've ran across with my google searches.
But because she said these were normal things I let it go and didn't pay attention to it anymore as a concern.
Ugh.
****
So since starting to make that portion of the post I have talked to a nurse at his doctor's office.
I asked her about the possible cause, specifically the auto immune disease possibilities & diabetes, she reassured me the the only "not good" or concerning parts of the blood tests were his low red blood count (RBC) & low thyroid levels, so he JUST has thyroid problems, RBC should go back up when his thyroid levels go up on the meds. He has to take the med daily then retest in 6-8 weeks to make sure the meds are a high enough dose, etc. She said it is most likely hereditary as his bio father's side has thyroid issues everywhere. Also because it was caught in "later" childhood and caught in its early warning stage phase he should not have any permanent damage...such as newborns can have thyroid issues and if untreated or caught later could cause permanent brain damage. If his issues were to go undetected and untreated into adulthood it could cause a lot of issues as well, such as heart problems, weight issues, behavioral issues, and academic problems..where he's excelling now he could be way behind in a few years.
Treatment is just a pill a day and regular blood work, most likely for the rest of his life.
For more information on Hypothyroidism in children I found this website to be quite informational.
A few weeks ago Mikeal told me that he was having passing out spells, three total that we're aware of to be exact, since around Christmas. Because of him starting wrestling around the same time that these things were going on I at first chalked it up to dehydration. We hydrated him, things seemed to be "fine", but then again there was no specific rhyme or reason to the black out spells, so didn't know what to think of it. Earlier this month my mom had a package for me on my child support stuff, so I had to go over there and get it....now my mom and I haven't talked AT ALL since Thanksgiving, so she didn't know of any of this stuff, etc. While I was there to get my mail from her we talked for a bit, it was actually a pleasant time, so I told her about all that was going on with the kids, what was going on with Mikaila starting therapy, my health issues and how they were resolved, and indulged her in some of the points of Mikeal's new issues. I left her place scared out of my gourd because she was able to tell me that a lot of what I had described about Mikeal was quite similar to my dad's starting issues. In case it's not known my dad had a heart condition that he had all of his life, but it was never detected until he'd undergone some serious tests, at age 32 when he had his first major heart attack. He died at age 44 from heart related issues and cancer.
Today I was called about the results of his blood work. The nurse said that Mikeal's blood levels and thyroid levels were low, so want to start him on a thyroid medication and to check back in 6 weeks for more blood work. Of course we're going to be moving during this time so I'll have to reschedule with a cardiologist in our new area and a doctor there for the follow-ups...
I went ahead and googled a bit to get more information...
BUT the information I got doesn't seem to really "fit" Mikeal...the information mentions things like stunted growth - he's in the 95% for both height and weight - and learning problems - he's in 2nd grade, top of his class, doing most things at a 4th-6th grade level - being the two big "clues" that there may be something going on. Other things mentioned were an increased sensitivity to cold...I have to FIGHT with him to put a coat on, and it's a battle to get him to wear gloves and a hat, even when it's only in the single digits outside and he'd play outside all day in such temps if I let him. It did mention fatigue, but he sleeps from about 8pm until 6-8am (depending on if he's trying to get out of riding the bus to school). Other things that were mentioned were autoimmune disorders such as Graves disease and Hashimoto thyroiditis or associated with diabetes and celiac disease.
I just feel a bit overwhelmed with it all.
Supposedly the nurse is going to give me a call back later, after she's done seeing patients, to answer my questions (I hope) but I don't feel really all that "great" about getting to the probable cause of Mikeal's recent black out spells... that or maybe I'm just a bit disappointed that it came back with something I wasn't expecting, instead of what I was preparing myself to hear.And now I'm full of every sort of question about this, follow-ups, ways to check for maybe one of the other things as being the cause, etc...and feel like I'm going to be brushed off...I'm not fond of the nurse because at Mikeal's last well check-up I had mentioned some things that seemed a bit "off" about Mikeal and she blew it off as just "normal" 7 year old boy stuff. I feel awful now for just rolling with it because Mikeal has never been able to be classified as "normal" ...I really thought that people were exaggerating "terrible twos" because Mikeal was a blessing, and his 3 year old year was only really terrible for about a month...Mikaila has given me a whole new take on "normal"...but Mikeal, no.
And now having googled, and thinking more about it, the concerns I'd brought up with her, back in August, actually match more with the information I've ran across with my google searches.
But because she said these were normal things I let it go and didn't pay attention to it anymore as a concern.Ugh.
****
So since starting to make that portion of the post I have talked to a nurse at his doctor's office.
I asked her about the possible cause, specifically the auto immune disease possibilities & diabetes, she reassured me the the only "not good" or concerning parts of the blood tests were his low red blood count (RBC) & low thyroid levels, so he JUST has thyroid problems, RBC should go back up when his thyroid levels go up on the meds. He has to take the med daily then retest in 6-8 weeks to make sure the meds are a high enough dose, etc. She said it is most likely hereditary as his bio father's side has thyroid issues everywhere. Also because it was caught in "later" childhood and caught in its early warning stage phase he should not have any permanent damage...such as newborns can have thyroid issues and if untreated or caught later could cause permanent brain damage. If his issues were to go undetected and untreated into adulthood it could cause a lot of issues as well, such as heart problems, weight issues, behavioral issues, and academic problems..where he's excelling now he could be way behind in a few years.
Treatment is just a pill a day and regular blood work, most likely for the rest of his life.
For more information on Hypothyroidism in children I found this website to be quite informational.
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