Sooner or Later…

Or home again, home again, jiggety jog.

We made the trek to Little Rock and Arkansas Children’s Hospital.  The trip is about three hours but new highway work is helping the trip go quicker.  We have never been to this hospital–something to be extremely grateful for–so had no idea what to expect.  The hospital is easily located just a few blocks from the capital and parallel to major streets.  It is huge.  Not surprising and not as big as say…a Chicago hospital…but more than I had expected.  The only down side:  the hospital is in the process of resolving some growing pains so construction and parking lot renovation works to make finding a parking space an adventure.

Because we had never been to ACH we left plenty of driving time, so of course things went smoothly and we arrived  nearly two hours early.  Parking adventure used 30 minutes, not too bad considering.

Our first stop was radiology for a scan of Little Missey’s thyroid.  This was the part of the trip that could have been unpleasant.  The ‘instructions giver’ had instructed ‘no food for three hours before the test.  You can give her a bottle once we take her back.  That way she will sleep and be still during the scan.  This works well and we won’t have to sedate her.’  Umm…did she realize that those three hours would be spent driving?  or that she is a nursing baby? 

In radiology we found our first automated check-in system.  There is a touch screen to confirm arrival and update information in the system.  Once finished a large screen in the waiting area lists patients and their status:  appointment or waiting.  Kind of cool and very easy. 

For whatever reasons we were back  & doing the test about an hour early.  This is a good thing as our sweet baby is not used to long delays at meal time.  She had sandbags placed on her arms and across her legs to sooth and hold her while the techs gave the radiation tracer.  We were offered some sugar-water dip for her binkey and accepted.  Little sweetie took to her ‘baby candy’ and promptly went to sleep.  Slept through an attempted blood draw (staff thought that as long as she had a port in to save a poke & get the blood the endocrinologist needed, but didn’t work).  Slept through 3 five minute scans and the repositioning needed.  Slept through brief explainations of how long the results would take.  Woke in time to be picked up and fed–nursing of course.

We finished and walked out the door at our appointment time.

The endocrinologist was nearly the same.  Arrived early, visit, left early.  Staff cooing over such a tiny one.  And so good too–cause it seems that babies only get good checkups when they are naked in a cold room.  Fortunately these nurses were all mothers so we could get a diaper and blanket back on in short order.

So what did we learn?  Basically Little Missey has no thyroid.  She has a small amount of thyroid tissue–enough to make the important hormones necessary for good brain growth & development before birth, but not enough for her life outside the womb.  She will be on thyroid medicine for the rest of her life.  The first three years the doctors will be extra vigilant in monitoring her homorne levels as this is the time of greatest brain growth and developement.  We will return in two months for bloodwork and medicine adjustments, eventually moving to every three months until about age three.  Once her toddler growth slows the check-ups will be every six months.

Not exactly what we wanted to hear, but not the worst either.  Thankfully we live in a time where a small pill given consistently can give a child a life full of possibilities.  She is not condemned to mental retardation and poor health.  We are not left to worry what will happen to her when we are gone.

Were our prayers all those months ago answered?  Yes.  That small amount of thyroid tissue has given our Missey a life full of possibilities.  That tissue may be small but produced enough hormone to grow a healthy body and brain before birth.  Who could ask for more?  Walking the halls of a children’s hospital puts life into perspective.  Other families face challenges much more difficult than a daily small pill.   We have no complaints.