Sunday, June 12, 2005

Update on Zoe's Medical News

We took Zoe to see her orthopedist last Monday. I was a bit taken aback when he rather quickly stated that he felt we needed to proceed with surgery to remove the second lump and he wanted to schedule it next week. We asked for a second opinion before jumping into it, and he set us up with a referral. The second Dr. said she would wait a bit to see if there is any change and follow up with another visit in 4-6 weeks. If it grows in the meantime, definitely surgers, otherwise we could consider an MRI before surgery if it is not shrinking.

Both Dr.s are stumped over what the second lump is. The second Dr. agreed with our regular Dr. that the orignal lump is a hemangioma. She said nearly all hemangiomas disappear entirely by the time the child is 8 years old, if not sooner. Both Dr.s agreed that the second lump does not seem the same in character as the first one--does not look or feel the same. However, they both also said that it is statistically practically unheard of to have two different issues going on on the same finger like that. Since they don't know what it is, removing it seems a reasonable treatment. If Zoe were older and able to hold still for 40 mins for an MRI, that would be an easier option to see if we could get more information. Since she would have to be sedated for that anyway, the first Dr. felt that we should just go ahead and do the surgery. The second Dr. felt that she could be sedated and probably not need a tube in her throat and all that and do an MRI before considering surgery. I don't want to put her through both of those experiences, though.

Both Dr.s also say they would not remove the original lump, which is quite small at the present. Removing both of them will increase the trauma and scarring to the finger and pose greater chance of malformation as Zoe grows. The second lump is over a nerve, but both Dr.s felt the likelihood of nerve damage in surgery was small. The second Dr. felt that if we did surgery, it is unlikely that Zoe would suffer permanent damage to her finger due to malformations from the scar tissue as she grows. It is on her right hand, and she is already clearly choosing to be right handed.

We will follow up in a few weeks pending that the lump doesn't grow larger. And meanwhile, we keep praying that God will simply heal it.

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