Out of Breath...

Well, the surgery was yesterday and it went very well indeed.

We got the first surgery of the day, hello pre-op at 6:30AM!  The whole pre-op thing went faster than the CT stuff, probably because they were able to put in her IV after she was under as they used gas anesthetic.

It turned out to be a dermoid cyst, which is primarily congenital.  The vast majority of these are benign, and this one didn't have any signs to say that it might not be.  Although of course, they will send a specimen to biopsy just in case.

The incision is about an inch, there are internal stitches that she can't really mess with, and Babygirl reports no pain. 

So huzzah!

I did read some stuff about children "regressing" in behavior after being anesthetized for a longer period of time, and I have to say that for her, it is somewhat true.  Although who knows the exact reason, it could be just stress, shock, pain, or any number of combinations of those things.

Interestingly enough, I felt that the CT scan was the more stressful experience for me, but perhaps because I wasn't really sure what to expect and was concerned about the radiation exposure.  However, there have been some studies done on young children who have received anesthetic, and not all of them are positive either.

But the bottom line is that it wasn't going to go away on its own, it was getting bigger, and nobody wanted it to abscess.  Better for that young skin to heal and have virtually no scar than to wait and have it be bigger or infringe upon her ear canal.

Did I tell you that my family was encouraging me NOT to have the surgery?  That they offered to pay for us to go get a second opinion because they weren't convinced surgery was justified?

I get a little bit of that thinking, but as I told them, if you think our insurance actually WANTS to perform a medically unnecessary surgery on a three year old, then you would be wrong.

I stand by my decision.

And man, does it suck always having someone over your shoulder second-guessing your capability as a parent.

Comments

Awesome Mom said…
I am so glad it went well! Some people say that docs are cut happy and like to do unnecessary procedures but I really don't think that is nearly as prevalent as people think. You did your due diligence in researching and consulting with doctors so you are right to feel good about your decision.
11:35 PM
J said…
Glad it's over, and assuming that benign will be the result of the biopsy. What a relief.
8:14 AM
marvel said…
Yay for a dermoid cyst! So very, very fixable. And yeah, you need to get it out so it doesn't cause problems in the future.

People who think surgeons like to do unnecessary procedures haven't followed a typical surgeon through their day. Most of them don't need more work to do.
2:46 PM
Anvilcloud said…
excellent news. Two thumbs up.
1:12 PM
Kelley @ magneto bold too said…
HUZZAH!

And family sucks especially when it comes to this stuff.
3:01 AM
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