Tália goes Horse Riding

Wow!! What a day - I took Tara and Tália to the Mijas Riding School and huge race course this morning. Ana, our physio strongly recommended that Tália start riding to improve her posture and strengthen her trunk. After a few tears at the start, she seemed to just take to it like a duck to water. It felt great. The instructers were so professional and loving towards Tália. Afterwards she seemed so stimulated and chatty. Tara was fantastic and really helped to make her sister comfortable. We are now going to go there weekly - I know, yet another car journey for me but alas she looks so happy and it seems to suit her temperament! I already feel her posture is better - or maybe I'm imagining it!!!!

High TSH and Hypothyroidism

The first thing I did was to set up an appointment for a follow up blood test. I then got cracking and googled Hypothyroidism and TSH levels. I found out that Talia´s TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) count was elevated but not exceptionally high. Her T3 and T4 levels were normal. Hypothyroidism is usually charactarised by a rising TSH and low T4. The fact that her T4 was normal put us in a gray area. However I did read that this could be an early indication of future hypothyroidism. I was relieved to see that there was a cure for this condition even though it would mean medication for the rest of her life but compared to the numerous syndromes and illnesses I had looked into - cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, it seemed like a nice answer to our concerns. The only think that I got was itchy feet to get going as when untreated Hypothyroidism will affect mental development and cause retardation.

Many of the symptoms seemed to match - physical exhaustion and lethargy, cold hands and feet, poor muscle tone - the only thing that did not square up was that the stereo-type hypothyroid baby is quite chubby and Talia was anything but that. However I knew adults who were skinny and suffered from hypothyroidism.

We did re-test and indeed Talia´s TSH came out even higher - according our lab, the norm was 3.9 and her TSH had gone from 5 to 8.3. My paediatrician immediately referred me to an endocrinologist at the Costa del Sol. I would now be seen under the state system by the head of endocrinology there.

Neurologist

After the blood test experience, it hit me that we were at the beginning of the roller coaster ride. My paediatrician had told me that this was the start and that the search could take a long time - indeed it could be years before we were any closer to any truth. However the good thing was that things would be eliminated and that even though it may be difficult to pinpoint the problem, we would be able to take away some of the key illnesses. I just remained positive - the truth was that Talia did look better by the day although her sudden moments of weakness and odd ´bad´days did concern me. Her lack of arm movement was alarming?? Would she be able to move them? Would she be paralysed? Would she walk? I had so many questions. No answers. We were referred to a neurologist in Malaga. I was convinced that the neurologist would have the answers. Could my baby really have some rare disorder? Surely someone would pinpoint what she had with ease?? So on the 6th November my husband and I made the trip to Malaga, very positive, certain that this would be the day - the day when we would get the answers. I tried to dress smartly - wanted to look like an organised and informed mother and wanted to be taken seriously.

The day dragged a bit till the appointment. My husband and I had a lovely lunch at the centre of Malaga - we had decided to make a day of it so we went to Marbella first to claim for our child benefit as we were due 100 euros a month for Talia and then we went to find out more about the libro de familia. Talia was a little weak that day and we both watched her over lunch and gave each other a knowing look - we were both worried. She hadn´t eaten much - I had fed her some cereal with a spoon but she didn't have much and she was not so good at latching onto the breast in public. I had created a feeding chart for the neurologist so that he could see her feeding patterns - I tried to feed her as often as possible as she would take very small quantities in at any one time.

Day	Time	Breast	Side and Position	Duration	Formula / Cereal	Quantity
Thursday 01/11/07	6:15	Yes	Right -Lying down	5 mins
	8:30	Yes	LEFT	10 mins
	Burp and sleep for 10 mins
	8:55	Yes	LEFT	15 mins
	11:15		RIGHT	12 mins
	15:10				CEREAL	ONLY FEW SPOONS
	15:40	YES	LEFT	15 mins
	17:40	YES	RIGHT	25 mins
	20:20	YES	LEFT	10MIN –BURP-5MIN-BURP 10MINS
	21:55	YES	RIGHT	5 mins
Fiday 02/11/07	03:20	YES	LEFT	1 hour on and off – eg sleep 5 mins, feed 5 mins
	5:40	YES	RIGHT	5 mins
	6:40	Yes	RIGHT	20 mins
	9:30			45 MINS	CEREAL 2 OZ BLEVIL FORTE CON CREMA DE ARROZ	ALL OF IT!
	10:30	YES	LEFT	10MINS
	12:00			10 MINS	Cereal, Blevil , crema de arroz	10ml
	14:00	YES	RIGHT	8 MINS / BURP 10 MINS / 8 MINS LEFT
	18:10			40 mins	Frutas con cereals Potito	All
	20:15	Yes	Right	10 mins
	22:10	Yes	Left	10 mins
Saturday 03/11/07	07:00	Yes	Left	10 mins
	10:10			15 mins	Leche con cereals – Nestle, Ready Made	30ml
	12:00	Yes	Left	7 mins
	14:30	Yes	Right	10 mins
	16:00	Yes	Right	15 mins
	19:15	Yes	Left	15 mins / burp / 15 mins
	20:00	Yes	Right	5 mins
Sunday 4/11/07	02:20	Yes	Right	20 mins
	04:00	Yes	Left	5 mins
	07:40	Yes	Right	10 mins
	08:30	Yes	Right	7 mins
	11:10			40 mins	Frutas con cereals y agua	50ml
	11:50	Yes	Right	5 mins
	15:30				Frutas con cereales	20ml
	17:26	Yes	Left	8 mins
	18:20	Yes	Right	10 mins
	20:15	Yes	Left	8 mins
	21:00	Yes	Left	15 mins
	22:20	Yes	Right	5 mins
	23:26	yES	LEFT	5 MINS

Anyway, to get to the point we finally made it to the appointment - the building was quite dark and the neurologist was on the first floor. The clinic was very simple - I don´t know what we expected but we were expecting high tech machinery and computers - I mean when you think of neurologist, you tend to think of lots of wacky equipment and machines.

We saw the neurologist a middle-aged man. He looked at the bloodtest results, my feeding chart and checked Talia over. He gave me a lot of hope as he said she did have weak muscle tone but it may just be that she was behind. For many kids who do not grow in the womb, this is quite normal. He seemed quite confident. He also told me not to feed her so often and to try and give her a top up in a bottle - I explained that she wouldn´t take a teat - we´d tried numerous bottles - avent, nuk (breast shaped teat) and 'Tommy Tippee'. He said to keep trying but to keep on with the breast. I asked lots of questions but he said it was early days and that he couldn't not tell me with certainty that she would be fine. He looked at her bloodtest results and immediately spotted that her TSH level was high - at the time I didn't know what that was but now I know more about the subject. He said I needed to do another test immediately to find out whether she had hypothyroidism and seemed pretty confident that if this was the problem, all she would need was a hormone supplement. Finally we seemed to be getting towards an answer. That, apparently ,was the only result that was out. he also suggested that we take her to stimulation sessions at a special needs association. It would do her no harm and give her a headstart if she did end up with any syndrome or permanent damage. He said to watch her but not to bring her back in less than 3 months. He said that we may never need to see him again if she did have hypothyroidism.