We had our long awaited appointment with U-M Pediatric Plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Kasten today...a great guy, seemed very capable and engaged. We found out she will have the removal surgery in one month, as we wait for the tissue surrounding the mass to return to normal. The procedure will be outpatient, requiring general anesthesia and a small half-inch incision.
Her spot looks great, flaky skin around the mass from where it was stretched to the breaking point and one small scab where it broke open on Sunday. Dr. Kasten will take care of any scarring from the break during surgery, so she should just have a simple straightline incision scar, which should fade over time. Ready to be done with all this!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Pilomatricoma requires hospital stay
We spend Memorial Day weekend in our least favorite place--U-M Mott Children's Hospital. As the dermatologist predicted my daughter's pilomatricoma (or sebaceous cyst, we're not sure which) flared up about two weeks ago. It gradually got redder and larger, until I was certain this wasn't "normal" flare up anymore and warranted a trip back to the dermatologist Friday morning.
He sent us immediately to the pediatric ER, where the doctors diagnosed cellulitis around the cyst threatening her eye and eye sight. She got on an antibiotic IV and remained such for three days.
We feel pretty unlucky and hope soon we'll be done with hospital stays for a very long time. As always, three days at a children's hospital can do nothing but make you thankful you are not a family stuck there chronically with a desperately ill or damaged child---the snippets you overhear are heartbreaking. We met a two year old boy waiting for a heart and our roommate, a 16 month old with unrelenting knee infection threatening leg amputation. You see teens laying silently in beds, their limbs twisted and contorted in ways that suggest a lifelong battle with a birth defects, or kids with bandages wrapped around their heads, victims of accidents or bad luck or I dont' even want to guess. One little boy (12ish) was playing video games in teh play room until a nurse told him his dialysis was ready. Seeing the possibilities up close alters who you are as a parent, just for knowing how close any of us are to that life. No one asks for it, but so many families soldier on because, really, what choice do you have?
So thankfully, even a horribly infected pilomatricoma, or sebaceous cyst, can be treated with modern medicine (she's now on augmentin for 14 days orally) and remain relatively benign. We have a follow up with the plastic surgeon on Thursday (ironically, the exact same appointment I've had for a month, which was supposed to be our removal consultation). We should find out more about the removal surgery, which they will do in about a month when the tissues surrounding the structure are completely calm and uninflamed.
He sent us immediately to the pediatric ER, where the doctors diagnosed cellulitis around the cyst threatening her eye and eye sight. She got on an antibiotic IV and remained such for three days.
(picture: The cyst or pilomatricoma at its worst in the hospital, two weeks after it began to be inflamed)
She had an ultrasound Friday in the ER to determine if the bump was fluid or solid. The U/S showed it was a fluid-filled abscess, but that could have formed in front of the pilomatricoma or it may be that she has a cyst (fluid-filled benign structure) not a pilomatricoma (solid-filled benign structure), but the difference is more academic than practical. They were contemplating surgery to drain it but fortunatly it responded to antibiotics (IV clindamyacin) in time. Other than a lot of waiting around, doctors poking at her face and one really bad hour on Friday getting her IV inserted, she had a good time at Mott--they have a play room with toys and activities and an outdoor playground, and she watched ALOT of Dora and Diego, which she loved. So all in all not too much trauma--just on us, who can't believe we have now had two separate hospital stays with both our little girls. We feel pretty unlucky and hope soon we'll be done with hospital stays for a very long time. As always, three days at a children's hospital can do nothing but make you thankful you are not a family stuck there chronically with a desperately ill or damaged child---the snippets you overhear are heartbreaking. We met a two year old boy waiting for a heart and our roommate, a 16 month old with unrelenting knee infection threatening leg amputation. You see teens laying silently in beds, their limbs twisted and contorted in ways that suggest a lifelong battle with a birth defects, or kids with bandages wrapped around their heads, victims of accidents or bad luck or I dont' even want to guess. One little boy (12ish) was playing video games in teh play room until a nurse told him his dialysis was ready. Seeing the possibilities up close alters who you are as a parent, just for knowing how close any of us are to that life. No one asks for it, but so many families soldier on because, really, what choice do you have?
So thankfully, even a horribly infected pilomatricoma, or sebaceous cyst, can be treated with modern medicine (she's now on augmentin for 14 days orally) and remain relatively benign. We have a follow up with the plastic surgeon on Thursday (ironically, the exact same appointment I've had for a month, which was supposed to be our removal consultation). We should find out more about the removal surgery, which they will do in about a month when the tissues surrounding the structure are completely calm and uninflamed.
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