This Time, I was Right!

Lunch out after the doc's office, with a view of the "owie" in question

We've been to a total of three different specialists now for Rowan.  Neither James or I are hypochondriacs, nor do we panic for nothing.  But when it comes to that little girl, better to be safe than sorry.  So here's the story of the latest issue and doctor's appointment.

Back in either November or December, we can't remember quite when, but we know it was before Christmas, we noticed that Rowan was getting a pimple on her cheek.  No big deal.  Kids get pimples.  It got huge, came to a head, we resisted the urge to squeeze it and it started to go away.  Or so we thought.

It did shrink down a bit, but it also spread out and formed what looked like a fluid filled blister.  We still weren't that concerned about it since it wasn't causing her any pain.  We left it for a couple of months or so, but when it wasn't going away, we decided it was time to get it checked out.  I thought it might be a boil or a cyst, but Mum said cysts hurt like crazy, so we figured it wasn't that.  Off to the GP. 

Rowan loves going to the doctor's office.  I think because they've never done anything painful or invasive to her, there's new toys to play with and they always give her stickers.  Our GP decided she wasn't quite sure what it was.  I was all about just lancing it to drain the liquid out, but apparently doctors are really squeamish about doing that to toddlers because of the scar it will leave.  Silly me.  Never thought of that.  She gave us a referral to a plastic surgeon (pardon me?!) and we went on our way.  I found out that we had to see a plastic surgeon because it's on her face.

About six weeks go by and we hear nothing.  We start to worry that they've lost our referral letter (again!), when suddenly the bump on Rowan's face shrinks down (good!) and turns black-purple (BAD!!)!  I call my GP.  She says, yes, let's get her in quicker.  She sends a referral to a different doc and gives me their number to get on the cancellation list.  I wait a couple of days and call.  THE OFFICE IS CLOSED FOR TWO WEEKS!!!!  Call my GP again.  She sends us back to the original doc, with rush on it.  Shockingly, they get us in on a cancellation within a week.

And now it was my turn to be right.  James was right about the lumps in Rowan's eyelids, I was right about the lump on her face.  It's a subconscious cyst.  Nothing crazy, nothing to worry about.  She may have had it since birth (that happens sometimes) and it's just taken it this long to come to the surface, or it might be from a bug bite or a scratch.  Basically, like her eyelids, we wait and see.  If it starts to hurt or anything changes, we take her back to the plastic surgeon.  Unfortunately, like her eyelids, if we want it removed, she'll have to be knocked out.  I REALLY don't want to do that if we don't have to.  The doc also brought up a point that I didn't realize: a 3mm scar on her cheek now will be huge by the time she's 15.  I'm actually less worried about the scar than I am about putting her to sleep, but it's a good point.  Why scar her up if we don't have to?

Sigh.  My poor girl.  Just like her mom: 101 health problems and no good solutions.  Good thing she's tough like her dad.