Endocrinology

Dylan has a new doctor to see. He is an endocrinologist. If you don't know exactly what that is (like I didn't) here is a definition:

Endocrinology: The study of hormones, their receptors, the intracellular signalling pathways they invoke, and the diseases and conditions associated with them.

Dylan's pediatrician wanted us to go in because Dylan's growth continues to lag behind. We were not particularly worried about this, but information is a good thing. 

The results: after a hand x-ray the doctor determined that Dylan's bones are about the size/development of a 6 month old baby. They do look like they have a good growth potential, but he has a significant delay. What does this mean? There can be one of two causes.

1. Genetic. We are not short people, but there may be some of those genes hiding somewhere in our family trees. We have some homework to do to this end. If it is genetic, then we really don't do anything. We will just realize that he will be smaller than the other kids, will develop later but by the time he is an adult he will be normal and will have reached his full growth potential.

2. Disorder or deficiency. They drew a lot of blood to test for a bunch of different things. These tests will come back in about 2 weeks. We will be able to see at that point if there is something else going on in Dylan's body that is causing his growth to be so slow. If this is the case, depending on what it is, we will have to act now to help him catch up. We really don't understand what this means yet.

Unfortunately the blood draw was a horrible experience for both Dylan and I. One full minute of digging around in his arm to find a vein and seeing him in so much pain was very difficult. We both cried. A lot.

We will post again when we find out the results of the tests. In the mean time, little Dylan continues to get a little stronger every day. Physical therapy has been beneficial to him and he is  making baby steps every week. It seems that we continue to learn about this sweet boy and the hand that he has been dealt in this life all the time.