T had his appointment early this morning. It was a good appointment. Upon talking to the doctor and giving her all the information she asked for she seemed to think T might fall between 5'7"-5'9" tall. She did a blood work up though as well as a bone age scan. I don't know how to read this so I messaged her asking for understanding of how tall he might grow. We are waiting to hear back from her but I thought you might like to see his scans. As soon as we know the piece of information we all would like to know I will pass it on to you by editing this post to include the result she gives us under the pictures I'm about to share with you now. Upon looking at the pics though it looks like he still has a lot of growing to do. She did tell us that he is due a growth spurt at 14 years old so that should be happening soon...LOL! Remember I'll post what she comes back and tells us below the pictures as soon as she tells us. This is what they do for a bone age scan though. They scan your left hand. T will go back in four months for them to do all this again and have something to compare with this initial scan they've done.
Here is what his doctors says:
His bone age shows his growth plates are exactly what we would expect for his age, so his predicted adult height would correlate directly to his mid-parental target height based on mom and dad's height, which is calculated at 5 feet 7 inches, plus or minus 2 inches. His final adult height will really depend on how quickly he progresses through puberty. Some people's puberty progresses slowly and they grow for a longer amount of time and reach a slightly higher height than predicted, and others progress very quickly and stop growing sooner. We can assess this rate by re-checking the bone age x-ray in about 6 months to see how quickly the growth plates seem to be advancing and closing. Overall it is always very difficult to give an exact prediction of how tall someone will end up being because there are so many different factors as play and everyone is a little different.
The blood test will make sure all of his hormones are in the normal range as well, and that there is nothing working against him to achieve optimal growth. I will let you know when I see the results!
Taylor Murphy, NP
UNC Pediatric Endocrinology
Our thoughts:
So now we have the task of taking the information we have as a family and make the best decision going forward whether to stay in this sport or move on to other avenues. We always want to make the best decision for T in moving him forward in his goals. At the end of the day when we've discussed it all and given some time to figuring things out we will let everyone know what that decision will be. Don't expect us to say right away as this may take some time to figure this all out with us as a family and with the coaches. Know this though, that the absolute best decision will be made for the betterment and future of T and his goals.
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