The Puddles

It started off with asking one of the grandmas what was that thing on the back of Madie’s ear. “Bug bite.” After a week of the “bug bite” getting bigger and not smaller. Mom suggested asking the school nurse.  Ok. That is one step up the chain of the medical world. The school nurse didn’t know but suggested hot compresses.  So we tried that.  It didn’t go away. We gave it a few more days. After a week of it not going away, I took her to her pediatrician office.  The nurse practitioner said she thought it would go away and not to worry.  She came home with pink eye that afternoon so Chris took her to the doctor the next day.  Our pediatrician wasn’t sure what it was. She brought in the other doctor in the office.  He didn’t know what it was. Chris begged for both or either of them to just cut it off or lance it.  Neither would do it. The doctor sent Chris and Madie to an ENT.  After looking at her ear, that doctor declared it a fast growing hemangioma and scheduled Madie for surgery. Surgery!!  Real-live, going under the knife, general anesthesia . . . surgery.  That was a shocker.

After Chris and I sat on that bit of news for 24 hours, we scheduled a second opinion with a dermatologist.  I figured if we were willing to drive 17 hours and cross four states to get a second opinion for Ben. We can drive 8 minutes to an office in the same city that I live and get another opinion.  We walked into the dermatologist and after examining it, smirking when we told him the other doctor wanted to schedule surgery, and gently talking to Madie about what he was going to do, he cut the thing off her ear.  Thank goodness. Chris was even willing to pin Madie to him so that the doctor could do the procedure.  We finally found a doctor who was willing to just cut it off.  Geez.

BTW, this doctor didn’t know what it was either, but he still was willing to just take care of it. So we finally got the lab results back and the final verdict . . . . a glorified pimple. Yep. That’s it. They gave it a big medical name.  It was probably caused by a hair follicle or a cyst, but the nurse said that the layman’s term was . . . a pimple.

So instead of a paying for a surgery and all that comes with it, we walked out of the dermatologist office paying around $30 dollars. Add the lab fee and we are still well under the cost that the surgery would have been.  So after five medical professionals looked at her ear we are finally finished.  We didn’t even see that many cardiologists when they were diagnosing Ben’s initial heart issue. I am griping now, but that is because I have spent WAY TOO MUCH TIME in doctors’ office lately for my children. We have spent WAY TOO MUCH MONEY trying to get answers for their many ailments.  I have seen the medical world work miracles. Look at Ben. I’ve seen medical professionals make good and quick decisions about Ben’s care that was not invasive but took care of the issue. I know they do good work.  I appreciate all that they do.  So in the end, I am grateful that it was just a pimple.  But I think that I will take a break from the medical world for a while. Or at least until Friday when I have to take Ben to his next doctor’s appointment.