Last Sunday, C left for a three week academic summer program through a national university. Getting a teenager out the door involved the usual last minute dashes to the shops for the forgotten travel-sized shampoo and the quick wash cycle to get that last pair of jeans cleaned in time. But there was more to worry about this time.
C started hormone blockers on Saturday. She had precisely one day of this medication under her belt before we put her on a plane and sent her to the next state. Spironolactone has a long list of side effects to look for and it was scary for us to be sending her away, unsure if she would suffer from any of them. They are as mundane as headaches, nausea and frequent urination, and as serious (and not terribly uncommon) as spiked potassium which can be fatal. We talked with her about the importance of being aware of her body, drinking plenty of fluids, eating snacks regularly and letting us and the leaders know if anything felt unusual. We got the usual, "OK, Mum! You already told me!" We made an agreement that she would answer our texts to assure us that everything is ok. Yeah, nope.
We are anything but helicopter parents. We think no news is good news. But this time it's different - there are actual real consequences. She's been gone 5 days. We've spoken to her once for 10 minutes (clearly an agonizing 10 minutes she would have rather been doing anything else) and she's answered a few texts with her trademark one word answers. Awesome. We feel so reassured. The only way I could get the doctor to agree to start the Spiro, even though C would be away, was to agree to arranging blood work 7-10 days after the start of the medication. Tricky, since we live in a different state. But, the program staff were incredible and agreed to shuttle her to get the bloods taken and all I had to do was find a nearby lab, arrange and book an appointment, pre-pay for the labs, send in the doctors orders and scan and send my insurance card (front and back, of course). But, I didn't have to fly 700 miles for a 10 minute appointment! As we speak, C should be getting her blood work done. I'm nervous, I'm hopeful. I want to see that her levels are fine and that we can carry on with the plan but I don't have much hope I'll hear how it went from the teenager herself.