updates

The past few months have been crazy... Too many birthdays, anniversary, Thanksgiving, Christmas etc to be able to sit at the computer and type.

We recently had a health scare with our little guy. He came home from China with 2 very dark moles. One on the back of his neck and one on his groin. The pediatrician was not concerned when he came and said we will watch them. The only thing, in hindsight that I noticed was that Liam suddenly wanted to wear boxer shorts. He is not a tiny boy, so I just figured he was not comfortable in them. Now I realize that the mole in his groin was bothering him.

When we went to his annual check up, the Doctor said that there have been many changes in the moles and that he needed to see dermatology sooner rather than later. Off we went to the desk where the receptionist promptly made an appointment for the next day. We didnt have to wait long in the waiting room, the doctor came and got us. He examined Liam, told me to wait there while he went and got his nurse. I thought he was going to just cut them off in the office and be done with it... No.... He had his nurse walk us up to the surgeons office.

I am not stupid enough to think that the surgeon had some free time that afternoon... I was scared. I knew enough to know that this was out of the norm. I couldn't hear anything except my heart beat in my ears.... It was deafening. The surgeon saw Liam and looked at me and said we need to go to surgery. We need a pathologist present to tell us that we are clear. I didnt ask any questions. I didnt want to hear the answers. We scheduled surgery for that Friday. What we thought would be a minor removal of a couple of moles turned out to be a 2 1/2 hour surgery. He told us that he feels he got clean margins, pathology report would be available at our followup.

What shocked me was the size of the scars left behind. The moles were small, about the size of a lentil but the scars were over an inch long. At the followup appointment the Surgeon praised our pediatrician for quick acting. The surgeon said that his lesions always turn to melanoma. Liam was lucky, if we had waited any longer things could have gone so much worse. He has 2 more moles that will need to be surgically removed to get the clear margins and we will be unfortunately chasing these down for the rest of his life. We have to do a monthly skin check all over his body and recently found a new one after his hair was cut. It is on his scalp. He needs to wear sunscreen every day, it gets put on every morning like lotion and before he goes out to play.

This is Liam, barely awake smiling for a photo to text to his brothers and sisters. They were very worried about him and were texting me non stop.