Last year around this time, I noticed Austin had a little pimple or bug bite that just didn't seem to go away. In early January he had his annual preventative exam and I mentioned it to his pediatrician who observed it blanching and diagnosed it as a spider angioma and said it was harmless, likely to go away on its own and to call if anything changes. As a parent who looks at his child's face every day, it was difficult to notice how it was changing but it became obvious it WAS changing when friends and family began asking about it. I was a little worried the pediatrician might blow me off again and really just wanted a dermatologists opinion anyway so I tried calling and scheduling a dermatologist appointment first, I figured then we can just skip the $20 pediatrician copay. Unfortunately it was a 16 week wait to get into the dermatologist. I never did cancel the appointment - it is still a few weeks away. I consulted with some close friends who said yes, it can take awhile to get into the dermatologist but a pediatrician referral might speed things up. Being a parent can be hard - you don't want to seem like an alarmist but you also just want to do what is best for your child. With their encouragement, I scheduled the pediatrician appointment who fit us in within a few days. The pediatrician agreed the spot had changed but was still feeling like the angioma diagnosis was accurate. He felt the change in appearance might be due to a blood clot under the skin. He could tell I was worried about it so he referred us to a dermatologist and advised that angioma's are removed by laser in Ann Arbor. Two weeks later, on the 2nd day of school, we were seen by Dr. Carroll who said she believes the spot to be one of three things: pilomatricoma, juvenile xantrhogranuloma or spitz nevis. She recommended the spot be removed by a plasitc surgeon and biopsied for a definitive diagnosis. Another two weeks and we were seen by Dr. Polley who scheduled surgery for November 4th.
We arrived at the hospital and I think Aaron and I were more anxious than Austin. He did pretty good. He was very hangry at first and did NOT tolerate the no eating/drinking policy well but as soon as we got a room with some cartoons he forgot all about that. When the anesthesilogist wheeled him away he said goodbye to dad and then when I went to give him a hug and kiss he said "mom, I'm scared. I don't want you to go." At which point I lost it. I tried to kiss him on the head so he wouldn't see my face and then took him away. His room was across from the nurse's desk and he had them in tears too. I cried a bit in the waiting room and then pulled myself together. The doctor met with us and said things went well and we'll try to keep the bandage on for 10 days. We barely had time to sit down after meeting with the doctor and they took us back to recovery. We heard him before we saw him and he was VERY upset. He was in the nurse's arms and I took him and asked him what was wrong - he was freaked out about the iv in his hand. We got him some graham crackers and juice and he calmed down and the nurse took the iv out. We got him dressed and were able to leave very quickly! Austin was 99% himself when we left and requested Olive Garden for lunch. He stayed home from school the next day and was back on Friday. His bandage stayed on exactly 10 days and came off while he was sleeping. The scar was a little longer than we expected but otherwise looked pretty good! Austin as a great little patient and never once complained about it hurting, pulling, itching or otherwise bothering him and he never messed with the bandage. I called Munson daily for to see when the pathology report was available and finally was woken up by a call from our pediatrician on the 17th advising us that the margins weren't clear and re-excision was recommended. Fortunately we had our follow up scheduled with Dr. Polley later that morning...
Here is Austin at Dr. Polley's office:
Keeping tabs on him via the monitors. We were scheduled to arrive at 10:45, surgery at 12:45. Dr. Polley was running ahead of schedule and surgery started at 12:01. By 12:30 Dr. Polley was closing and by 1:12pm we were in the elevator on our way home.
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