Sandy

[Guest guest]

Hi Kimber,

I have Dr. W. Ostroff in SF. He is head of the dept at UCSF. He

is an EXTREMLY aggessive doctor who thinks surgery is the end all, cure

all, be all to pancreatitis. He does not think that you should ever

have 1 ounce of pain because surgery can cure it all. I totoally

disagree with that. When I disagreed with him on surgery, he told me it

was his way or the highway. Seriously! I have waited more than 3 hours

PAST my appointment time to see him. He is a caring doctor when you can

get the time to be with him. 3 hours past appointment time and then

5-10 minutes only in the exam room and everything ends up surgery. I

don't see him anymore.

I am now seeing Dr. Hargrave in Oakland. He is more of a laid

back doctor. His thoughts on this all is, if you aren't concern with

it, then neither is he. He doesn't see the need for repetitive surgeies

which would only cause an attack. I like him better than the doctor in

SF, but he isn't aggressive enough. I would like a dr. in between these

2. I will also tell you that both these doctors DO NOT BELIEVE that

pancreatitis causes pain other than from eating. Not from stress, from

activity, exsurtion, heavy lifting...all the things we know that can

cause pain. Only from eating can you get pain. According to them, anyway.

I am out of doctors as far as blue cross goes. No regular GI will take

me at all. In fact, Hargrave didn't wanna take me. He wanted me to see

a regular GI, until I explained that noone of them knew much about

pancreatitis and then he said he would see me. He was miffed at the

fact that the specialist in SF never returned HIS phone calls regarding

me. That was in January.

Thats what I can tell you. I like Dr. Hargrave better than Dr. Ostroff

any day of the week. More relaxed, laid back, on time for appoint,ents,

tends to you in the hospital. All the things OStroff isn't.

In fact, I have to see Dr. Hargrave on tuesday for a 4 month check up.

And from there, he said I only ever come see him if I think theres a

need. Other than that, there is no need to ever see him. So you can

see what I mean about him being TOO laid back and not agressive enough.

Hope this helps.

Your friend in Fairfield,

Sandy

[Guest guest]

I just finished reading your email (all my students are in their classes

having Christmas parties, a rather slow afternoon for me )

I hear everything you are saying in your email. I think deciding courses of

treatment that are not life threatening should never be taken lightly and I

applaud your thoughts and efforts at making a rounded decision.

As I read along I kept wondering what I would do. As with your daughter, my

son (Adam age 11) does produce enough GH on his own. So to medicate or not

to medicate was not the same decision as parents with GHD children.

That being said, for me, I had to go the GHT route. My son is a boy and as

such, height is so much more an issue in our society for males. Furthermore,

I have a 14 year old daughter who is 5'9 " ; I'm 5'10 " and their father is

6'0 " ..........so no genetically we were all destined to be tall.

I'm not sure about the genetics of height and how much the grandparents and

other blood relatives are reflected. I would guess it really depends on the

parents themselves, from the formula often used to predict adult height (boy

vs. girl and the parents heights are factored). It seems that is all that is

necessary. I know my mother said for years that Adam was small as his

paternal grandmother. I think she was really reaching to normalize him

somewhat.

As I continued to read your email I think the biggest thing that jumped out

at me was your daughter's response. She's of an age that she can discuss

these issues with you. I think I hear her saying she is fine and comfortable

the way she is. I think that has to be your may focus in my humble little

opinion LOL. I would walk her through the pros and cons completely of GHT vs

no treatment. Actually have her sit in a car and add the few inches she will

get so she can see what her adult life will be like. Then I'd let it go for

a month or so and then bring it up again. I'd also check with your endo. How

much time ultimately, do you have to start GHT? If you could get some height

in a year's time, then take your decision-making slowly. But if this is a

now or never type of time (within 6 months) your daughter needs to

understand that. Do I make any sense? I think I have snow on the brain

today. Basically if I were you, I would put a ton of weight in what my child

was saying and just fully make sure the kid understands this is for life,

and be sure she has thought of all the angles and then I'd be inclined to

let her decide.

Well you did ask if anyone had any thoughts! LOL

Take care

Debby