what does it all mean?

I seem to learn something new every time we have a hypothyroid checkup at Children's. His doctor called with his results the other day (he was moved up to a higher dose) and in casual conversation she taught me so much!

What I knew about the blood test before the phone call: he gets two different levels checked (TSH and FT4). If they're high or low, they adjust his dose accordingly. The end.

What I know now: One of the levels that gets checked (TSH) is more important than the other. It is also the most sensitive so is more likely to be out of the normal range before the other. For Mason, this one is more important because it is checking the productivity of the pituitary gland. Since Mason has a little residual thyroid, the goal is to keep this number on the lower end of the range (around 2) to make sure that little piece he has doesn't decide it should grow due to what the pituitary gland is telling it. In case you've forgotten past lessons :) his thyroid is located in his throat and could be a choking hazard if he were to stop taking his medicine or let it stay over-active for too long.

The other level (FT4) is checking his thyroid. For this test, this number was in the normal range, but because the TSH was a little above the normal range, his dose was increased. Because it's just an educated guess on the new dose, he'll have another blood draw in 6 weeks. (This is pretty normal for us, although we did luck out the last two times and were able to skip the in-between blood draw because his levels were normal).

Completely unrelated.

Here are two superheros, each with chap stick and one sock on, keeping me company while I made dinner last night. So helpful.