Let me tell you first, though, that this story has a happy ending. The tumor is a BENIGN lipoblastoma.
Let me also tell you that the photos at the bottom of the blog may not be suitable for the SQUEAMISH (and I'm lookin' at you, Robert Rasmussen!!!) so proceed with caution.
Here's how we got to the happy ending.
This is Lizzie just before and then on the way home from the State Modeling Contest in which she participated over Memorial Day weekend (all pictures are posted with Lizzie's permission. by the way). I helped her change clothes about a dozen times throughout the competition and didn't notice anything untoward growing out of her shoulder. However, if you look at the top of her right arm of the car photo you can see what looks to be some sort of swelling. But basically, at the end of May, it wasn't even there.
And this is Lizzie at the shore. One day she was getting her bathing suit on and I was helping to adjust the straps and I noticed a small lump. I asked her if it itched or hurt, because it looked like a spider bite or some sort of reaction to a mosquito bite. There was something about it that concerned me,so I took her to the urgent care at the shore to see if they could offer treatment. They were closed. I wasn't so concerned that I did anything else about it though. The next day I called her pediatrician and made an appointment for the following Monday when we got home.
This is Dr. Williamson at Coventry Pediatrics. He's a really really good doctor and new with one look at the bump -- which by this time was probably the size of a flat ping pong ball -- that it wasn't something he wanted to be dealing with locally. So he sent us the the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania -- and let me tell you how grateful I am to live so close to CHOP. They are just extraordinary there, both in skill and their ability to work with kids (and their hypochondriac parents...). He also sent my blood pressure through the roof because I was trying to convince myself that this tumor was just a cyst. But the look on his face told me that it wasn't anything simple. Luckily Lizzie was in no pain and barely even noticed that there was a lump there at all. And, since she swims with a shirt on, no one else ever noticed the bump,either.
Shortly after the visit to the local doctor we had an ultrasound at CHOP. That test was inconclusive so about a week later Lizzie was sent for an MRI. I also took this opportunity to scare the heck out of myself by googling terms like "soft tissue tumors in childhood" and "childhood tumors." Let me tell you before you google it yourself == NOTHING GOOD comes from those searches.
(This is Lizzie in the outfit she had to wear -- at first she wasn't happy with how big it was and then she got used to it once the drugs started to kick in...)
The ultrasound was really nothing and it was the first time I heard the word lipoblastoma. But since the doctor couldn't be sure, he needed an MRI, so off we went. The MRI was a blast for Lizzie who got to be sedated -- and have an Icee when they woke her up. The sedation was so strong though, that I basically spent the rest of the afternoon with a sorority girl who had too much to drink at a frat party. She was alternately laughing, singing, snuggling and crying. She informed me during this time that I had two heads and that she knew how to use the toilet, but needed me to hold her on it. :)
The MRI showed some sort of lipotomous (fatty) mass of indeterminate quality (in other words it was a fatty tumor, but they weren't sure what kind.) In general benign fatty tumors are very slow growing, and Lizzie's was growing fast. It was shortly after this that we met Dr. Peter Mattei, Lizzie's surgeon. He said he wouldn't be able to accurately diagnose it until it came out, but really the only treatment available for any sort of fatty tumor is to cut it out. I was all for that, as the thing was getting quite large and was starting to annoy Lizzie when she sat in the car or watched television.
We took off for the Poconos for our annual visit with the Garritys, but left the Poconos for the afternoon of pre-op testing, which went smoothly, until I asked the doc if he was still going with benign and he said that the way it was growing so quickly was concerning. Luckily the surgery was the following week (Aug. 28) so we didn't have long to wait and I didn't have long to worry about it.
(Lizzie at the Poconos, oblivious to the drama...)
Grandma Connie stayed over Monday night so we could be at the hospital by 8 a.m. on Aug. 28 (which meant leaving by 6:15 in anticipation of Philly traffic) and we also weren't sure if she'd be able to come home that day or not.
We took some pictures of "Gary" the tumor (named for SpongeBob's snail) to remember him when he was gone for good:
They took Lizzie in for surgery at around 10 a.m. and they were done by 11 a.m. and the doctor said it really couldn't have gone better. It presented some challenges because it was near things like muscles and nerves and skin, but all's well that ends well and Lizzie came home with us. Oh, and Dr. Mattei said the tumor didn't look evil at all, which really put my mind at ease. Lizzie was tired and cranky -- especially after I yelled at her for doing CARTWHEELS -- and slept very well that night. The next day she felt some pain, but was basically on the mend.
The worst part of the day for her (at least until the painkillers started to wear off) was the hat they wanted her to wear:
But she got used to it (thanks again to the amazing drugs at CHOP!!) and was ready for the surgery:
And then it was GONE:
A week later the pathology was back and the tumor was benign -- just a fatty tumor that could grow back, but probably won't. YAY!!!
THE END!!!
1 comment:
Oh, Tracy...that was really big! So glad that Gary is a thing of the past and all is well. Loved Lizzie's hat and gown of the day!
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