The Lump - Part I

I've been meaning to get around to writing and posting this. This is the story (so far) of Buster's mysterious lump.

About one month ago I discovered quite a large lump on the back of Buster's head. It had just suddenly appeared. The night before when I had given Buster his bath and washed his hair all was normal. The next day after his morning nap he was sitting on my knee and we were about to read a story when I saw "it". It was 4cm in diameter and protruding significantly. It looked like a golfball sized cyst or growth. It didn't hurt when I touched it. It wasn't red, swollen or bruise like in appearance. There were no bite marks, so he hadn't been bitten. He hadn't had a fall or bumped himself. For a lump to be this big, if he had hurt himself he would have screamed the house and surrounding suburbs down.

Not sure whether to panic or not, as everything else about Buster was normal. No fever, no loss of appetite, still babbling, still moving, he could see, he could hear. Everything about him was normal - except for this giant lump. Michael was working in Sydney for the day, Henry and Milly were at daycare. I couldn't get an appointment with our GP, so I took off to the hospital emergency department. Gave Michael a slightly panicked call to fill him in. Also gave my Mum a slightly panicked call in case I needed support.

The triage nurse gave Buster a look over and agreed it was quite a nasty looking lump and recommended we wait in the emergency department until a paediatrician was free. Well wait we did. We waited over four hours. Poor Buster boy was overtired and hungry. A few other waiting patients had to leave the room because they couldn't stand Buster's crying anymore. Mum had kept us company for a while but had to be despatched to pick up Henry and Milly from daycare and look after them until either I got home or Michael did.

Finally we get ushered through the doors and shown a cubicle to set up in. It wasn't long before a paediatrician had examined Buster and said "it's most unusual, the most likely cause is trauma to the head". Where upon I explain Buster has definitely not suffered any trauma to his head. The paediatrician then goes off to consult with his colleagues and is soon back with a paediatric surgeon who is so impressed with Buster's lump he wants to take some photos to show his boss because "this is most unusual". He then excitedly snaps away on his iPhone like Buster is some new amazing freak of nature. The surgeon then advises me it is most likely not a brain tumour as they don't just suddenly appear and it is probably a haematoma caused by trauma to the head. Inside I breathe a sigh of relief it is not a brain tumour but am starting to get frustrated that no one seems to believe me that Buster has not suffered any head trauma. I'm half expecting the police to walk in and start questioning me and community services to take Buster into care.

Both the doctors walk off to consult each other and talk to "the boss". By this time Buster has finally fallen asleep. The poor Boo is exhausted from his day and from being poked and prodded. I'm exhausted too, but mine is more emotional as the adrenaline from the stress of it all is still pumping.

The first doctor who saw us returns and says he has spoken to the head paediatric surgeon on call (ie "the boss") and says we can go home. Given Buster is presenting all other functions as normal and healthy, there is no need for us to stay. He has booked Buster an appointment to have an ultrasound the following day to see if that can clear up what the "most unusual" lump is. Our instructions are to wait a week and see if the lump resolves itself and if not visit the GP and possibly get a CT scan.

The next day the lump is still there and I take Buster to have his ultrasound. The radiographer is mighty impressed with the lump and notes "it's unusual". He scans the back of Buster's head and looks puzzled. "There's nothing there but soft tissue", he says. He then calls in another radiographer to have a look at the ultrasound. They are both a bit puzzled, because they can see the giant lump on Buster's head but the ultrasound is not showing it as anything different. They both say "this is unusual". They then suggest we hang around as they call on a specialist paediatric radiographer to come and take a look. When he shows up he pushes the first radiographer out of the way so he can do the scan himself. The end result is the same. There is a lump on Buster's head but the ultrasound shows it is nothing but soft tissue. The only other news is the scan prooves the lump is not a haematoma so it wasn't caused by trauma. The three radiographers recommend we go back to the emergency department to see a paediatrician again, this time armed with their report that the lump is unusual but shows up as only soft tissue on the scan.

Another three hour wait in emergency. This time Buster is easier to entertain as he had a good nap before he had his ultrasound, but the waiting is endless. The paediatric doctor who sees us this time just follows the recommendation from the doctors the day before - see if the lump resolves itself, if not go to our GP and request a CT scan.

It has now been a few weeks. The lump has changed shape. It is no longer golf ball sized or round. It has flattened and elongated itself across the back of Buster's head. To most people his head probably looks normal, but to his parents we know what his head looked like before, and this is not it. When his hair is wet and sticking to his head, you can clearly see there is a large something that is "unusual" protruding out. Still, Buster remains happy, healthy and normal.

But I need to know that he is ok and this lump is not something ugly beginning to brew. His lump is not normal, so I took him to our GP who instantly wrote a referral to the head paediatric surgeon, "the boss", who may or may not remember us from the photos his colleague took on that first day in emergency.

Our appointment with "the boss" is on Monday. We will be armed with the film from the ultrasound that shows not much. Hopefully, he will have some answers for us.

Stay tuned.