Stitches and biopsy results

Rachel had her stitches removed last Thursday. It was certainly an adventure as usual. Poor Rach seems to know where she is as soon as we walk into any doctor's office building. She starts to kick and cry in the stroller as soon as we enter. I feel bad for her. She hasn't exactly had it easy with the biopsies and surgery and appointments lately.

Dr. D didn't make us wait long at all. He came in, Rachel cried..... and then screamed while he took the stitches out. He was really fast though so at least the screaming didn't last too long. It wasn't because it was hurting her. Rach has just had it with doctors and isn't happy when she seems them. I can't blame her. When he was done, he left the room so I could calm Rachel down and we could talk about the biopsy results. That was my first clue that I wasn't going to just hear the happy word, "benign," and be sent on our way. He said, "Let's get her calmed down so we can talk about the pathology report." Ugh! Don't worry though, we didn't get bad news.

I guess you could say the results were um, unsettling...... but good news overall. The tumor was a Spitz Nevus tumor as originally thought. According to the pathology report, the biopsy was neither benign nor malignant. Apparently, the Spitz Nevus tumors usually fall into a gray area. Almost all the time, everything is just fine and there is nothing to worry about. Dr. D thinks that is how it is in our case. If these tumors are not completely removed, they will always come back. He said he is as sure as he can be that he got every last bit of it. We still have to watch her though. She is going to be seeing him every 3 months for the next year so that he can keep a close eye on the area. Then we'll be having her examined at her regular well child check ups annualy. Having had the tumor, it can put her at a higher risk for certain skin cancers, but it's also not that likely. Gray area again.

It was hard for me to comprehend all of this. I fully expected to go in and hear the word benign and then say thank you and good bye! When Dr. D started talking about the gray area and all the statistics and follow up, I have to admit, my head started to spin a little bit. It's like I still don't have the answer I was looking for. Waiting and watching isn't fun for any parent. However, I'm not going to dwell on the gray area. I'm going to focus on the positive news in all this. The tumor has been removed. We have an excellent doctor who is following up to make sure my little girl stays healthy. And... we didn't hear the word malignant. So this is all good news!

I just feel bad for Rachel. She has her 2 year well child check up coming up in the next month. All I can say is that I'm glad they are current with their vaccines and none are scheduled at this next appointment!

And WOW, I can't believe my babies are going to be 2 next week.

Weren't they just born like a week ago?

Oh and if it weren't so late at night, I'd tell you about the two crazy ladies who almost got into a fight in the hospital parking lot over my parking space as I was backing out. One of them practically hit my van trying to beat the other person to the spot. It was a bit crazy!