Loren Update

First, we want to thank everyone for your prayers and warm wishes. It's never easy to hear that your child has something wrong. It's scary and it makes you. . .well. . .just sick. Anyway, the reminders that God is good and faithful have really made a difference. We want you all to know we feel loved and in your prayers.


So, here's what we know so far: If you can remember back to biology, you'll remember that sitting on the base of your brain is the Pituitary Gland. The pituitary releases a bunch of hormones that do a bunch of different things. One hormone released is Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). This hormone goes to the thyroid and tells it to release T4 (Thyroid hormone) and T4 converts to T3 which turns off the pituitary's release of TSH. If you have followed so far, you get a gold star :)

In normal people, the TSH level is less than 5. Loren's was 24. So her Pituitary is spitting out TSH like MAD. This SHOULD make the thyroid spit out TONS AND TONS of T4. . .however, her T4 level is normal. This means that her thyroid is being pumped full of hormones telling it to spit out T4 but it's only getting out a normal amount. This basically tells us that her Thyroid is sick. :( We re-ran the test and her TSH level was at 13. . .still way high telling us that her thyroid is sick.

We need to know why. . .this is what we are waiting results on. More than likely it is an auto immune problem that she's producing antibodies that are attacking her Thyroid and seeing it as "foreign."

**For those of you who are wondering, I asked already and this has nothing to do with Lupus. . .she does not have Lupus and this gives no indication that she will have it**

So we are waiting on blood results to see if she has a Thyroid antibody. Out of all the possible answers, we are praying this is the cause. Please pray that it is. The other answers are not good.

So, we cannot stop this. Her thyroid will die. The good news is that they are now able to give pure T4 as a supplement!! She will not be affected in any way! She will lead a normal life as if it was her thyroid producing the T4. Everyone says that if she was going to have any sort of problem (if there is such a thing), this is the one to have because of the ease of fixing it! So she will have to take a small pill every morning for the rest of her life. She's already taken 2 easy without problem! Praise God!

We are very lucky that we found this. It was on a fluke that we found it so early. Most people find this when 1) They stop growing up and start growing out :) , 2) They get super-sick 3) There is a learning delay. . .Her symptoms don't even correlate with a Thyroid issue. . .they tested it on a fluke. God was faithful.

So anyway, please continue to pray for Loren. Pray that it is a Thyroid antibody creating this problem. We can handle that :)

We love everyone and are thankful to everyone!

LASTLY - WE HAVE DROPPED OUR LAND LINE! WE ARE NOW A CELLULAR FAMILY! IF YOU NEED US CALL KIMBERLY'S CELL