Bailey has had an enlarged lymph node on the left side of his neck that we have been watching since April 2013. When we first noticed it last April, it was about the size of a golf ball when Bailey wasn't sick. We had blood work and an ultrasound done to see if we could determine the cause. Everything came back normal and so we were instructed to just watch it. Then Bailey had a spring and summer of being pretty sick with lots of ear infections and fevers and it stayed enlarged. When we had tubes put in his ears in August, we were hopeful that his lymph node had been reacting to those infections and would go down. But it didn't even though he was healthy most of the fall.
In January, it was the six month mark since his surgery and George thought we should probably get it checked out again. We did another round of blood work and had another ultrasound. The blood results came back normal but the ultrasound showed that it had gotten slightly larger since last April. Boo! At that point our pediatrician referred us to an infectious disease specialist who ordered a chest xray, a TB test, and more blood work looking for several obscure infection markers. And once again everything came back normal which was a blessing but also meant that we still didn't know what was causing it to be so large. So, at that point the infectious disease dr recommended he have surgery to remove the entire lymph node. Since she couldn't detect an infection causing the inflammation, she wasn't able to rule out the fact that it might be a tumor and since we had been watching it for about nine months with little change, she thought the best thing was to take it out and have it biopsied.
So, last Wednesday, that is what we did. Our brave boy had surgery to remove the enlarged lymph node on the left side of his neck. It is never, ever, ever fun to have your child be put to sleep and go through surgery but all things considered Bailey did great. He didn't seem to notice that he wasn't allowed to have breakfast that morning and only asked for some juice while we were waiting at the surgery center. Everything with the surgery itself went well and the dr was able to easily remove the lymph node with no complications. The only rough patch was when Bailey was waking up from the anesthesia that, while heart wrenching, is fairly normal. The poor guy was screaming and crying and flailing his body around for 15-20 minutes. It was awful! And surprisingly, he wanted me, rather than George, to comfort and calm him down, which never happens! He always prefers George over me, sometimes even running past me to get to George when he's upset, so even though I was flattered, I knew that meant he was pretty out of sorts. :) Once he calmed down and drank some juice we were able to leave. He got some popcorn at the gift shop and with the medicine they gave us, he was a pretty happy little guy the rest of the day. The picture below is him post surgery. All the nurses loved his bones jammies.
The day after the surgery, Thursday, on the other hand, was a pretty tough day because all the medicine from the operation had worn off and he was grumpy and uncomfortable. I felt bad for him of course, but it took a lot of patience to make it to bedtime! Since then he has been doing well and for the most part feeling a little better each day. He still says that the incision site hurts a few times a day, especially after nap (I think because it gets stiff) but after some ibuprofen he usually feels better and forgets about it. He has to be on limited physical activity for two weeks but has been able to go to his favorite activities this week with only a few modifications.
After the lymph node was removed, it was sent off to be biopsied and we got a call yesterday that all the pathology came back normal! It was such a huge relief to get that call! No abnormal growth! No tumor! And no a-typical infection! All music to my ears and such an incredible blessing!!! The nurse on the phone even said, "Yes, it was just one really big lymph node!" Ha! Praise the Lord for that! There are the results from one culture that we are still waiting on and we have a followup with the surgeon next week, but I already feel like the big stuff is behind us. And I'm so grateful and ready to close the door on this whole situation. Amen!
1 comment:
Amen indeed!
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