It has been quite an eventful six months for Sebastian who is now 3 and a quarter and after reading our entry in the last newsletter I realise just how much progress we have made recently. Six months ago I dreaded the idea of starting growth hormone so it was with intrepidation that we made the appointment with the nurse. The pen device seemed quite straight forward to use and our training session culminated in the nurse giving Seb his first injection. How the poor boy screamed when the needle went in to his thigh - I shall never forget it. I had convinced myself, however, that  he would soon get used to the idea and that I would be able to incorporate giving the injection into his bedtime routine. The following evening Seb was in his pyjamas ready for bed and quite calm and happy. I then showed him the pen (which we had customised with a car motif to make it more ‘kiddie friendly’) and muttered something in reassuring tones like ‘Seb’s little car, won’t hurt, it will all be over quickly…’. He looked at me, pupils dilated and screamed as if I was the axe murderer coming to get him for dinner! I managed to get the injection into him but the experience was quite traumatic and although Seb seemed to recover quite quickly I had a very bad night’s sleep. The next morning, with the previous evening’s experience as vivid as ever, I came to the conclusion that two more years of this was potentially very daunting for our family. That afternoon I spoke to the nurse who suggested I try and give the injection to Seb in his sleep and through his pyjamas! As I came home late that evening I had a sinking, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach at the prospect of giving him his injection. Creeping up to his bedroom I was fearful of his reaction and as the pen touched his thigh, he cried out and started to thrash about in his bed. I made my exit, examined the pen downstairs, noticed that the needle was no longer there and panicked thinking that it had remained lodged in Seb’s thigh! I quickly returned to the scene of the crime and took off his pyjama bottoms searching for the missing needle. Seb certainly didn’t have anything in his legs and was fast asleep, blissfully unaware of his mother’s frantic search. The next morning I went down to the kitchen barefoot and, by the fridge, stood on something which felt like glass. Upon closer inspection I found the missing needle stuck in my foot.  I was at once mystified about how the needle could have got there and relieved that it had been found. After that evening we seemed to turn a corner and our persistence has paid off. The new routine comprises, checking that Seb is in a deep sleep, i.e. does not stir when I go into his room and then giving him his injection. If in a deep sleep he barely makes a move and certainly does not wake up. We are now into month two of growth hormone and have finally established a pain and stress free routine which works for us.

Sebastian’s speech or rather lack of it coupled with his poor enunciation has been another cause of concern over the past few months. Now that he is well settled in nursery I took the opportunity to talk to his nursery teacher about whether she thought speech therapy was something worth consideration. In true non-committal style she said she would talk to the head teacher at the school. The final answer was no, they did not think that it was appropriate at the moment as Seb had made progress over the past 3 months. It was only after talking to the teacher at length that she shared with us that she was giving extra attention to three kids in his class, one of whom was Seb. I therefore decided that I would get my GP to refer us to a speech therapist and that is currently in hand and we are waiting for an appointment.  The lesson I draw from this is that teachers seem to be unforthcoming about stating where they feel your child stands in relation to the rest of the class and are certainly loath to make judgments.  Also, if you have a gut feeling about what you consider to be necessary for your child you need to take the initiative and make things happen yourself.  

We had Seb’s nativity play last week which was wonderful. He was a splendid sheep and looked great in white tights!