Murphy Update

So first of all... Thank you all so much for all your texts, calls, messages... I honestly started out the morning in tears due to the fact that I had so many texts from friends wishing me good luck and letting me know that their thoughts were with us. Overwhelming how I have surrounded myself with such awesome, compassionate friends.

So to start things out... Murphy had a rough cough last week so I scheduled him a doc appt. While we were there I had questioned Dr. Pete about a bump that we had noticed a couple months ago in the front of his ear. So I have taken a couple of my kids before with bumps behind their ears or down their chin line and they are always pockets of infection that go away with time. After this wasn't going away we thought we should ask about it.

The doctor referred me to an ENT which we saw today. There were a few different scenarios and the doctor is not sure what it is and cannot be sure until he runs a few tests. He was leaning toward a lump in his lymph-node. He followed that statement with, "this is most commonly a from of lymphomo." He also stated that over 70% of the time these are benign.

Our options were to get a CT scan to see if there were more lymph-node (which would be a bigger sign of lymphomo). The good news is that he couldn't actually feel anything so he said that was a good sign. Our other option would be to biopsy it which would mean put a needle into the side of his head and pull out stuff from the "bump." The doctor said he would hate that.

Regardless of whatever it is or whether it is cancerous it HAS to be removed. It is in his salivatory gland which affects a few things that shouldn't be affected. So normally it's an easy procedure that they cut a little hole and remove it. Unfortunately it is right on the "face nerve" which controls the function of the left side of his face. So they will have to cut from the top of his ear down to under his chin bone. They then peel back his skin and remove it carefully without bumping or heaven forbid, cutting, the nerve. The doctor assured me he has done several of these surgeries and only had a few paralyzed faces!!

HaHa... totally just kidding! Never paralyzed anyone before. So.. due to the fact that it will be removed regardless of what it is the surgery has been scheduled for December 30th.

I asked the doc what he would do if it were his child. He told me to do the CT scan so we could have a better idea of what he was dealing with. When we called the hospital they weren't able to schedule him until Thur morning. The doc called the CT people in his building and tried talking them into doing the CT immediately. They told us that they never do CT scans on 2 year olds without sedation and they were concerned because if there were any movement at all the CT wouldn't work. Our doc told the CT tech that he wasn't a normal 2 year old and he thought he would do it.

He is so mellow and good that Eric and I were also confident that it would work. Besides that, we couldn't wait another 2 days to know anything. So... they go to do his IV and he totally freaks out and pulls it out. I was ready to throw in the towel and didn't want to see him go through that again. He was frantic and scared and mad and bawling uncontrollably. Eric suggested we try the other arm. We both knew how tired he was and knew if we could get the IV in he would hopefully fall asleep which would make the actually scan simple! So after both of us and 2 nurses holding him down we did get the IV into the other arm.

He was so not happy with us. I held on to him and snuggled him to sleep after he tried catching his breath for 5 minutes from crying so hard. He would almost get asleep and say, "I want to get out of here mom." We told him they had a Buzz Lightyear ride that we had to go on first and then we could "get out of here." He wasn't convinced. After 30 minutes he fell asleep and I laid him down on the CT bed. He woke a bit but went back to sleep shortly after. She started doing the CT and his eyes popped open. I was dying. I thought for sure we had just wasted the last hour... knowing if he moved it would have been for nothing. When he opened his eyes he saw the lights flashing and said, "mom... is this the Buzz ride." I assured him it was and told him to tell me what color the lights where. They then shot the dye, or liquid, into his IV which isn't comfortable and gives you a bad taste in your mouth. He didn't like that much and started to move a bit... He said, "Mom... I'm melting (its warm liquid)... mom I'm melting... my blood is melting". It made me smile and he was not liking it until he saw my sexy x-ray jacket. He said, "Mom, you have a buzz lightyear shield on." After that he laid perfectly still for the next 5 minutes and had a perfect CT.

So now we wait... They said we should hear from the Dr. first thing in the morning with the results of the CT. It took all I had not to break down in the office but I did it. For the next couple hours I couldn't think about it without breaking down. So I'm a big, fat, cry-baby and can't talk about it. I apologize for not calling everyone concerned and it was definitely too long to text. Everything will be okay. Regardless of anything... it will be ok (Eric has assured me this all afternoon). I'm sorry I'm such a wuss but if I start talking I cry and then I feel like a big dork because it could possibly be nothing!

But until I know... I will just be a baby! I love you all and appreciate your kind words and prayers. I will update as soon as I hear anything!