Re: Re: for Marcia/daughter diagnosed

May 20, 2003

Marcia, I tried to reply to your email last night but it was returned to my

box. The text is below.

Pam

Dear Marcia,

I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter's diagnosis. Your physician is

correct in advising at this point against surgery. There is a good chance

that with medication she could go into remission on her own and be just fine,

but it will take longer than surgery or RAI. There are some risks associated

with surgery in any person, young or old, but this is a delicate area of

surgery, and with your daughter being so young, there is a chance of vocal

chord damage, although most books will list only a small percentage.

You may have already read that RAI isn't recommended for young children,

especially those who haven't reached maturity yet. RAI kills the thyroid but

the Graves' disease is still there. Your daughter would be on medication for

the rest of her life and would always battle hypo thyroid issues.

But to skip to your question, we have been seeing Dr. Hellman in KC,

MO and love him. His partner, Dr. Rosen, is just as good. They are very

tough to get into, so be patient and be firm that you want to see him.

Another lady in this area is taking her daughter to him, even though he isn't

on their insurance plan. Dr. Hellman is very kind, a good listener and good

with children, even though he isn't a children's doctor. He has done a very

good job with Amy so far; we've been seeing him for about 14 months now and

Amy is stable.

I know how confusing this thing is. Write with any questions you have and

I'll do my best to answer them. The Graves' group is a great place to start

and don't forget Elaine 's book, Graves' Disease. It will help with

understand things. Oh, and ithyroid.com is a good place to go for more

information.

Pam

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