Tag Archives: The Lump

Why I Am Not Really Worried About Tomorrow

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So tomorrow is MRI day.  Finally.

And I’m not really worried.  I mean, I’m not completely calm, they are going to be sticking a needle into my son’s vein and pumping a drug into it to make him sleep, with all the dangers that that brings.  But that’s more because I hate to see him cry and he will cry when the put the cannula in.

No, I’m not worried.

Why?

I was worried.  When they first said MRI and General Anaesthetic I was very worried.  Here was my 3 month old son being put under at some point.

And then I saw the palm of his hand for, really, the first time.

In case you didn’t know, babies keep their hands in fists for months.  They just don’t hardly open their hands.  Its actually very cute, but means I had never really seen my son’s palm.

And then, one day not too long after we found out about the MRI, I was feeding him and he opened his hand.  And I saw his palm.  And his lifeline goes all the way around his thumb.  Just like mine does.  Just like my Granny Annie’s did.

Granny Annie was, if I am remembering correctly, 96 when she died.  Is that right mom?

Anyway, I saw the palm of my son’s hand and his lifeline and I stopped worrying.

You can call me daft if you like.  I don’t mind.  My husband surely will if he reads this.

But I still won’t worry about tomorrow.

The Saga Of The Lump…

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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?