Update on Olivia

Aunt Linda - I know you've been calling to ask about Olivia. I don't know what happened last night - did you end up speaking with Wade? I noticed that you had called but no one brought us the phone.

Anyway, the pediatric endocrinologist saw Olivia after a two hour wait to see her. She listened to our story and examined Olivia then ordered all kinds of tests. Bloodwork, ultrasounds of her pelvis and an xray of her hand.

In the bloodwork, she is testing for hormones that are abnormal for her age. She also ordered a cholersterol level because my chub-o-lita is tipping the scales at 105lbs. (she is 4'8" tall)

The ultrasound will show if there is any cysts on her ovaries that could be triggering the spotting.

The xray of her hand will show her growth plates. She showed me a book that had the xray of the hand of a baby and every year up until the age of 16. The growth plates actually look like floating bones in the palm that fuse with the rest of the bones after the onset of puberty. If Olivia's growth plates are still floating around it is a good sign that this is NOT early puberty.

I scheduled the xray and u/s on Monday the 16th when the older ones have no school.

I gonna try to get her to labcorp on this Friday (before school). They open at 7am. I'm sure it will be the highlight of her day, right?

If she is starting puberty early - then the treatment is hormone injects (monthly) until age 12. Or she can have an implant placed surgically that lasts a year and will need to be changed out annually until age 12.

The doctor said that it could be early puberty or it could be just a fluke. We'll have to see.

As far as school goes, I have not heard back yet. Still waiting for the email of acceptance.

Once that email comes, my life will be upside down, as we will have 5 months to figure out how we are going to pay for it. $$$ everywhere is tight and I was counting on a sponsorship of a local anesthesia group to pay for school... they cut the program this month.

My luck, right?