Ben's final growth statistics

I took Ben to see Dr. Tollefsen and found out that he has only grown 0.2 inches since January.  They did a bone scan and his growth plates have sealed over, so he isn't going to grow any taller and we can stop the growth hormone now.
He is now 5 ft 5.67 inches and he currently weighs 118 lbs.  He's in the 29th percentile for height, so really he hasn't done too badly at all.  He wasn't interested in doing his growth hormone shots for the last few months and it's up to him at the end of the day.  He insists he doesn't want to be any taller, he got his wish.  Hope he feels the same way when he's older.

Ben's latest growth stats

Well, despite us not doing Ben's GH shots as often as we should, he has still managed to keep growing.

Height 166.3 cm (5ft 5.47in), 39%ile

Weight 53.4 kg (117 lb), 44%ile

BMI 19.4, 45%ile

He is definitely taller than me now, there's no denying it in any way!!!  He's grown 2 inches in the past year, so he is slowing down but Dr T think he could still get another couple of inches if he keeps doing his growth hormone.  She did talk to him about how important it is and hopefully he did pay attention and will keep going for as long as he needs to.  She is getting ready to retire so she said I'll quit when you do!!!!!

(yet another) wrist update

We had another full day of doctors/hospitals last week.  I took Ben to get the MRI done on his wrist on Wednesday morning.  It was pretty straight forward.  After that, we went over to Wash U to see Jan as she had her knee replaced on Tuesday.  Finally, we went to the endocrinology clinic to see about Ben's growth.  He is now 5 ft 5 in and weighs 122 lbs.  He's officially taller than me!!!!  They don't think he is going to grow much taller and he won't have to do growth hormone for too much longer either.  I think he's pretty happy with how tall he is now.

Dr G called me on Friday about Ben's MRI and said that the ganglionic cyst has come back and that one of the options is to do surgery again and remove it.  Ben has decided that's what he wants to do because he is tired of being in pain all the time.  I guess I need to schedule another surgery....

It's official, my son will be taller than me!!!!

I took Ben to see Dr T today.  There is no way I can deny that he is taller than me any more.  He is now 5 ft 4 1/2 inches tall and he weighs 115 lbs.  He's grown about an inch in the past 4 months.  He is still growing well and should be another 3 inches taller by the time he's done.  I'm happy that the growth hormone has worked so well.

Still growing....

I took Ben to Dr Tollefsen on Friday.  He is still growing well, not quite caught up with me yet, but less than an inch left!!!  He is now 5 ft 3.2 in and he weighs 114 lbs.  He's put on a lot of weight and  by the look of him, it's all muscle.  We talked about what to do in the future.  She said that they will continue to give him growth hormone  until he grows less than one inch each year.  So far, he's growing about 3 inches a year, so he has plenty to go.  They did a bone scan and I need to get his blood drawn again-he will NOT be happy about that

Got this from his doctor:
Ben's bone age was read as 14 years, but I thought it was slightly older. His height prediction is terrific - 169.4 cm (66.7") to 173.2 cm (68.2")!

Wellness visit for Ben and Maggie

Well, this is literally the first time I have taken Ben and Maggie to the same doctor for a wellness check up.  Ben is now 108.3 lbs (52%ile) and is 63 inches tall (48%ile)-he's only an inch shorter than me!!!  Of course, I won't believe it until the endocrinologist measures him because they are more accurate.  I still think I've got more than an inch on him!!!!  Maggie is 54 inches tall (44%ile) and weighs 89.6 lbs (78%ile).  

They are both doing fine.  Maggie's eyesight is now borderline.  The doctor says that eye shape changes during puberty and she will probably need glasses before too long.  She also looked at Maggie's walking and said we don't need to be too concerned about it since she can put her heels on the ground when she doesn't have shoes on, she just doesn't do it when she has tennis shoes on.  I also asked about Ben's allergy problems and she gave him a nasal spray to try.  He is congested all the time and we are convinced some of it is due to the school building.  She wants him to be allergy tested, so I guess I need to set up an appointment for that.  We are ALWAYS at the doctor!!!!

Ben's growth progress

Ben is now 5'2", he is only 2" shorter than I am!!!!  He has grown 4" in the past year.  He is growing at around the 25th percentile, which would mean he'd end up around 5'7", which isn't bad at all.  He is also 105lbs, I won't say how much lighter than me he is!!!!  Of course, all his weight is in muscle.  Every time we go, the doctor comments on his physique, but he works hard on it, so what would you expect?

We have a teenager in the house

Ben turned 13 this week, I cannot believe he is a teenager already. The time has gone by so fast and yet we have done so much together over the past years.  I took him to the doctor for his growth check up today and he is now 98 lbs and 5 ft 1.2 inches tall-he's less than 3 inches shorter than me!!!!  They decided to measure his IGF levels this time.  They haven't done it since he started on growth hormone, almost 6 years ago.  My first thought was "why on earth did they have to do choose this day, it's his birthday for crying out loud..."
Poor Ben, we had to wait for quite a while and every other child that went in the blood drawing room was screaming.  The lady that drew his blood was horrible, she almost missed the vein and managed to blow it out, no wonder the other kids were screaming.  I think his face says it all.....

There is one of the St. Louis 250 cakes at Cardinal Glennon, so I made Ben stand by it while I took a photo.  He was still refusing to bend his arm at this point!!!!

We celebrated Ben's birthday by going to eat at Mi Linh.  We took the usual friends-Jan and Julie, Arline and Caroline.  Jan and Julie bought Ben these stick on eyes and they had fun sticking them on everything.

They also bought him this fantastic gymnastics sweatshirt, I'm thinking it might be big enough for me to wear too, so I may have to snag it!!!!!

Almost as tall as me......

I took Ben for his latest growth assessment today.  He has finally reached 5 ft, he will be as tall as me soon!!!!  He has grown 4.5 inches in the past year and moved from 10th to 50th percentile.  The doctor is concerned that he is now growing too quickly (never thought I'd say that) and will stop growing before she wants him to.  She thinks he'll end up being around the 10th percentile because he will slow down soon, but that would still make him 5 ft 6 in, which is at least 8 inches taller than he would have been without growth hormone.

Still growing.....

I took Ben to the endocrinologist on Friday.  He is now 4' 10.66" (yes, every 0.01 inch counts in our world!) and 89 lb 4.6 oz.  She thinks he's about half way through puberty and he's growing at a faster rate than normal for boys his age-he's almost at 50th percentile.  Still on track to be around 5' 8".  Next appointment-December.  Maybe he will be 5 ft by then.  That would be amazing.  He's already taller than they predicted he would be without growth hormone

Latest growth appointment

Amazingly, Ben has grown almost 2 inches in the past 5 months (he's now 4 ft 9.2 inches).  He's moved from the 22nd percentile in November to above the 30th percentile.  It's really amazing how much he has grown.  He has a bone age Xray done today, so we'll see if they can predict how tall he will be.  Even though his growth is delayed, apparently his puberty development is actually 18 months ahead of his age-no wonder he is moody!!!  He even has a 12 year molar coming through, well I guess he will be 12 in a couple of weeks so it's not surprising!!! 
Ben's growth age came back as 12 to 12.5 so he has caught up completely and they predict he will be 5 ft 9 by the time he stops growing-not bad for a European!!!!

Ben continues to grow....

Took Ben to the endocrinologist yesterday.  I had completely forgotten to make an appointment for him so we were at 6 months rather than 4 this time.  One of the problems with their appointment system-they can't book so far out when we are there and then it goes out of my mind!!!  Anyway, he is now 4 ft 7 1/2 in tall (22 %) and 73 1/2 lbs (21%).  He's grown over an inch and put on 7 lbs in the last six months!!  His growth is going so well and he is definitely catching up with his peers.  He was showing me his muscles last night after he got back from gymnastics.  He is in amazing shape.  He still talks about giving up gymnastics next year and I am trying to keep him interested enough to keep doing it.  Who knows who will win this battle....

growth

I guess Sam and I are very aware of the growth rates of children because of Ben's deficiency.  We are always remarking on the differences in heights in the kids in the Harry Potter movies.  One of the other mothers at school took this picture of Ben getting off the bus after Camp Wyman.  These two boys are the same age!!!!

Puberty!!!!!!

Ben now weighs 66.2 lbs and is 4 ft 6 inches.  He has had a growth spurt and has grown almost 2 inches in 6 months. The doctor says he has started puberty and so we have to see her every 4 months until this is all over.  They did his bone age again and it is at 10 years, so still almost a year behind his chronological age.  He is growing very well and his bone age has almost caught up because his growth is in the normal range.

Still growing....

Ben has been on growth hormone for 3 years now.  I took him back for his 6 months check up and he is still growing well.  He went from 10.8 percentile to 11.6.  He now weighs 64 lbs and is 4 ft 4.32 inches (got to include the 0.32 inches!!).  He grew 4.7 cm in the past year and if they grow more than 2 cm in a year, then they believe that the growth hormone is working.  He still might be the smallest in the class, but he's doing really well.  The hospital has transitioned everything over to electronic records, so now they enter everything in the computer and you get a really nice print out at the end.  That's why I know all the exact statistics....

Growth update

Another 4 months, another 1/2 inch or so.....Ben now weighs a whopping 56 lbs and is 50 1/2 inches tall. I can remember when he stayed at 30 lbs for about 2 years, we thought he'd be that for ever!!! They are very pleased with his growth & we don't need to go back for 6 months. He's sitting on the 10th percentile growth curve, which means he should be around 5'6", but could be even taller because his bone age is so delayed. We used to think he'd be 5'2"-so every inch counts!!!!

Oh, how I wish I could.....

This was Ben's 4 school essay tonight. They are given a subject to write on and have to write 4 sentences. Ben's answer was:
Oh, how I wish I could be big like my friends. I will be big soon. I will be able to do a lot more things. I will be very happy and excited

10th percentile

Ben had his 4 month visit for his growth last Thursday. Recently, several people have commented that he seems to be getting taller, I think it's more that he seems to be getting thinner. He had grown another 2.8 cm since last time, so I think that puts him at close to 50 inches tall & he weighs 54 lbs. He has climbed up to the 10th percentile on the charts now, but he is leveling out from what he was when he first started growth hormone. The doctor increased his growth hormone dose. She did point out that his bone age is 2 years behind, so he still has plenty of growing left to do

Growing pains

I have finally discovered that kids may have growing pains in their legs, but parents have growing pains in their wallets. We have been lucky up until now that we have survived on hand-me-downs, gifts and my MIL for the majority of the kids clothes. However, I opened Ben's drawers the other day and realized he had absolutely nothing to wear this summer. I took him to Target and we had fun pickling out T shirts and shorts for him to wear. This is the first time we've ever been shopping together to get things for him. We bought a couple of things for Maggie, but I thought I'd let her pick some stuff out too at a later date. She has so much to wear anyway. Ben has been on growth hormone for almost 2 years, hopefully I will realize that he is growing one day....

Growth statistics again

Bring on the Summer and days at the pool, Ben will finally be able to go down the slide as he has officially hit the 48 inch mark. He is a little over 48 1/2 inches tall and has grown almost an inch since his last appointment 4 months ago. He is tipping the scales at 52 lbs. They did his bone age and it is still almost 2 years behind, at a little under 7 years. That means that he can grow for almost 2 years longer than most people do and he will probably be a decent height when he's grown. He is now between the 5th and 10th percentile. When we were at the music night last week, Ben was standing beside a girl that was definitely smaller than he is. That is the first time ever.