Bone Age Scan and Bloodwork

This current round of doctor's appointments started at Elli's 9-month well-baby visit, when she essentially fell off the growth chart. (By "fell off the growth chart", I mean that all of her measurements - head circumference, height, and weight - were less than the zeroth percentile on the growth charts.) This would have been less concerning if she had continued to follow her own growth curve, but she really wasn't doing that, either. As a precaution, he wanted us to see a neurologist and an endocrinologist.

Before our appointment with the endocrinologist, we needed to have a bone age scan and some bloodwork completed. So, we went to the hospital to have those things done.

A bone age scan is completed by x-raying just the left wrist and hand. By looking at those bones, they can tell whether her bones are growing similar to what is expected of children her age. The results of the bone age scan showed that Elli's bones are "2 standard deviations away from the norm", and that she has the bones of a 3-month old. As such, the results was "delayed bone age."

The bloodwork showed that her thyroid is functioning normally. However, it showed that her pre-albumin levels and her "insulin-like growth hormone 1" levels were also low.

Upon finding out those two results, I was a little stressed out for a few days, until we went to see the pediatric neurologist and pediatric dietician shortly thereafter...