The Saga Of The Lump…

So, when Adam fell out of my arms at 3 weeks old one of the things that he had, along with his cracked skull and broken rib, was a little lump on his side, under his left arm.  We were told it was a sub-dermal haematoma caused by his rib bleeding when it broke and that it would go away on its own.

Instead, it started to grow.  It started out about a centimetre across and a centimetre high.  By the time he had his follow up with the Paediatrician who treated him when he fell, it had about doubled in size.  We were still told not to worry about it.

Well, at his first well baby and jabs check up 4 weeks ago, it was doubled in size again.  And the GP was concerned.  However, since it didn’t bother him, the GP decided to wait until his next set of jabs, which were this past week.  And it was even bigger.  And we were sent over to the A&E department at Children’s Hospital to have an ultrasound and get it checked out.

After 4 hours, lots of poking and an ultrasound, we found out it measures 5cm across.  And it has blood flow.  And some cyst bits.  And they have no idea what this thing is on my son’s side.

So the next step is an MRI. Now, I’ve had an MRI, they don’t hurt, its completely un-invasive.  However, Adam is a baby.  You can’t just ask him to lie still for an hour while they scan him.  So they are going to have to put him under a General Anaesthetic.  With its usual dangers.  Neither Simon or I are pleased about this, but I really want to know what the heck this thing is on my son’s side.

The part that really worries the two of us, though, is what are they going to do about it, once they do know what it is? Is my little guy going to need an operation? Are they just going to leave it alone and keep checking it?  Or what?

And we won’t know that until after the MRI.  So we wait.  Hopefully not more than about a month.

But its the NHS…so who knows for sure?