Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Update on Kate...

That rhymes...how cute!
After doing lots and lots of reading and talking with others, Michael and I decieded to reschedule Kate's appointment with the surgeon. I did NOT feel comfortable with her going in for surgery to remove this from her arm. Everything that I have read has said, that if it is JXG, it goes away on its own and that surgery is NOT recommened! So, I did some research and found another dermatologist that is also in pediatrics. I found one and made an appointment to get a 2nd opinion.
Well, we had our appointment with the 2nd dermatologist today. I have been talking to several friends about this whole situation with Kate and her arm and I found out that 2 of my friends use the dermatologist that we made our new appointment with! They couldn't say enough good things about her! They have a website so I was able to read about the doctors and about their practice. I was very impressed. First they took a picture of Kate's bump on her shoulder. The doctor came in and looked at it and then proceeded to talk to us about it. She said it looked like to her that it was pilomatricoma (which is NOT what the 1st dr. told us). I told her about our 1st appointment and how that dr. said it was JXG. She said that it was a possiblity, but that she has seen lots of JXG and she didn't think that is what it was. She said that she could take it off today and send it off to the lab. I said "really?!?!" because that is one of the reasons why we wanted a 2nd opinion because the other dr. said he wanted her to have surgery. Her jaw dropped open and she said "What?!" She said there was no reason what so ever to do that. When I also told her that the other dr. thought that it was JXG but wasn't to sure because he has seen only 1 other case her jaw almost dropped again. She couldn't believe that we went to a doctor who had no idea what this was. She said that yes she could remove it today and that she has done this countless times on children. Sooo.....IT'S GONE!!!! She has 3 stiches though :( Kate was not happy about the shot (local anesthesia) but we got it off. When she was removing it there was a cyst underneath it and that pretty much confirms her diagnosis of pilomatricoma (benign skin tumor derived from the hair follicle). All the stuff that we were seeing was it calcifying. It is being sent off to the lab to get the real diagnosis, but I feel MUCH better. I am so glad that we got a 2nd opinion. It also shows us how faithful our God is. We have been praying for Kate and believe that he has answered our prayers. As my pastor Gary would say "GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME AND ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD!"
I will be posting some pictures soon!

1 comments:

David said...

I am very happy for you guys! I'm glad you took charge, and got your second opinion from a dermatologist.

I'm very happy to hear that it most likely isn't JXG. When we saw our first dermatologist, who wasn't certain what it was, they sent it off to a lab as well. The lab will be able to really make sure that the doctor is on target.

Congratulations, and, despite her not feeling good in the moment, it certainly is comforting to know that she'll be okay.

Please keep us up to date on the diagnosis.

PS - we saw our dermatologist on Monday afternoon, and she is encouraged by our daughter's progress. The JXG seems to be s-l-o-w-l-y going away. We're hopeful, but know it may take a year or longer, and that she may have some slight scaring. But, we finally feel like we're on the downhill side.

Even though it wasn't JXG, I hope I was able to help a little.