buh bye

i took kate to her endocrinology appointment today. i wasn't expecting anything other than the normal routine we go through every three months: she gets weighed, measured and the doctor listens to her heartbeat and feels her abdomen. her appointments are always the same and always last for about 15 minutes. we get her prescription for growth hormones renewed and make an appointment for three months ahead.

but today. oh, today was a glorious day.

dr. reiner said that kate had caught up on the height chart (but at 28 pounds, she's still WAY low on the weight chart) and that with my permission, he'd like to take her off her shots for the next six months to see how she grows.

!!!

we've been giving her a shot every night for the past two-and-a-half years and now, suddenly, we have a six-month reprieve. SHE has a six-month reprieve. for the next six months we don't have to travel with a car refrigerator to cool her medicine. we don't have to request refrigerators in hotel rooms. we don't have to worry about missing a dose. or forgetting to order the medicine or the needles or the alcohol swabs. when kate gets ready for bed for the next six months, she doesn't have to hear, 'kate, let's do your shot and then go get your jammies on.' she doesn't have to worry about us doing the injection badly and drawing blood or causing a knot on her arm. she doesn't have to worry about peeling band-aid after band-aid off the backs of her arms and causing rashes.

we've all come a long way since we started. it used to take both jeff and i to hold her down (all 18 pounds of her) and give her the shot. kate would be screaming bloody murder and i'd be crying and jeff would just be flummoxed by all the noise and commotion. it has since become a part of our routine. a part that none of us likes but have come to grips with and have dealt with.

we went out to dinner to celebrate tonight (kate chose red robin) and then went to the bookstore and let her pick out a book. she kept hugging me and laughing, "i don't have to do my shot! i don't have to do my shot!"

nope. you don't. and you deserve the reprieve my little kitty kat.