Finally able to breathe again

*
"That bump is starting to look funny."
What bump?
"The bump on my hip."

A few months ago, Charlie had shown me what looked like a mosquito bite on his hip. Who gets bent out of shape about a mosquito bite? Not this mommy--I grew up covered in bug bites 'cause I didn't have the sense to go in when the sun went down. So I told him to keep it clean and it should go away in a couple of days, try not to scratch at it.

Never heard anything more about it. Until two weeks ago when the above conversation kicked things off.

I examined it, and decided we had cause for concern. It had grown to about the size of 2-3 peas clustered together, it was hard as a rock, and it had turned purple. And you could move it around in there. Time for professional help.

One small problem--I couldn't find a dermatologist at Hopkins (where I work) who could see him in a reasonable time frame. An adult dermatologist could have gotten him in, but because his legal age was only 16, he has to go to a pediatric dermatologist. (Remember, there is a discrepancy between his physical age and his legal adoption age.) The pediatric dermatologist was booked up into late September already. And they refused to let me schedule him with an adult dermatologist, even when I explained that physically he is already an adult.

Okay, phooey on Hopkins (maybe not in those exact words). I started looking outside the hallowed halls of Hopkins. And it seems like every dermatologic surgeon in Baltimore City and surrounding region was booked into September for new patient appointments.

I finally got the bright idea of going farther afield and found a dermatology practice in Frederick that could actually see him the coming week for the initial appointment.

The wonderful news was that when the doctor heard how far we had come and understood that we already knew it would have to be surgically removed, he actually agreed to do the surgery ON THE SPOT!!! That's practically unheard-of.

They excised the mass that same afternoon. The chunk of tissue he took out looked huge to me--he took really wide margins all around the mass just in case, so the incision was very long. Charlie went home feeling no pain. The local anesthetic they had given him lasted a long time. He didn't start feeling pain until just before bedtime. Once it hit, though, he wasn't real happy. It was reasonably well controlled with just ibuprofen, but it was a week before Charlie stopped asking for pain medicine.

And a week later, the pathology came back: Dermatofibroma. Benign.

Whew. I didn't realize that I'd been pretty much holding my breath for a week.

Charlie is doing great now, chafing a bit because he can't practice his karate for 2 weeks while the incision heals, but behaving himself for the most part and healing very well.

No more "mosquito bites," please!