11 Months Old....& Little Lexi

The girls were 11 months old at the end of April. I truly can not believe that they are going to be one so soon! They are busy doing new things each day and getting so big! All three girls are standing without support and Brooke and Brynn are starting to take small steps. This is scary that walking may be happening at our house soon. I can't even imagine what that will be like. They each have two teeth on the bottom and are working on top teeth. They all three love to go up the stairs and they are starting to play so well together. Its so much fun to watch them interact and play together. Of course playing together also means fighting, which does happen quite a bit. I do not have official weights on the girls but I know they are gaining weight and getting big.

So this week has been one of those weeks that does not go as planned. Lexi has had what appeared to be a small yellow bruise on her back for about three weeks. I noticed it three weeks ago and thought that one of the small fights the girls get in or one of the falls they have resulted in her getting a bruise on the side of her back. About a week after the bruise appeared she got a small bump under the bruise. I assumed that this was just how the bruise was healing and that it was fine. So this week when we put her in the bath and noticed that the bruise had tripled in size I became concerned. I took Lexi to the pediatrician on Thursday morning and they were not sure what was going on but thought that she should have sonogram to take a closer look. They sent us to Shady Grove Hospital for the sonogram. As soon as the sonogram started, I got a very bad feeling inside. The tech. was acting concerned and scaring me. I started asking questions and got more upset each time she gave me an answer. I was told that she had a mass that was 2.5 centimeters in diameter and that it did not look good. I was told that she was going to need a biopsy right away. I held myself together during the appointment but then had a mental breakdown on 270 driving home. Poor Ms. Zoe at the pediatrician had to listen to my mental breakdown on the phone. We are so thankful for Ms. Zoe who called the hospital to get some answers. So it was a long two hours of worrying and of course thinking the worst (that's just what I do sometimes).  I don't know what we would do without Ms. Zoe who calms me and makes me feel better about things when they get tough. So after talking to the doctors at Shady Grove Lexi was diagnosed with a cystic hygroma...

Definition   

A cystic hygroma is a sac-like structure with a thin wall that most commonly occurs in the head and neck area.

Causes   

A cystic hygroma is a birth defect. It occurs as the baby grows in the womb from pieces of material that carries fluid and white blood cells. Such material is called embryonic lymphatic tissue. After birth, a cystic hygroma usually looks like a soft bulge under the skin. The cyst can't be seen until after birth, and sometimes is not noticed until the person is older.

So this is just a short description of what is going on with Lexi. The only thing is that 95% occur on the head and neck and hers is on her back. This makes it more rare and why the doctors were not sure what is was at first. If it is not removed it will continure to quickly grow so the next step is surgery. We have talked with the head pediatric surgeon at Hopkins who feels he could possibly do the surgery (he will need to look at her scans first). He has agreed to meet with us Tuesday morning at Hopkins. Hannah also has a food challenge Tuesday morning at Hopkins at the same time as Lexi's appointment. The good news is we will be in the same building the bad news is we will have to split up and one go with Hannah and one go with Lexi.

So Thursday morning if you would have told me that Lexi would need surgery to remove this mass I would have freaked out..but after hearing that it may be a tumor and it did not look good...surgery now sounds ok. 95% of cystic hygromas are benign. It will still need sent away for testing but it should be fine. So we will now take this news and more forward being thankful that its only surgery.

Say prayers on Tuesday for Hannah and Lexi that we get good news all around!!

Comments

[Jennifer Cord]

Never a dull moment in the Clagett household! :) It's amazing to see the girls growing up so fast! I always look forward to seeing their newest pictures. 2 more weeks, and I'll have a little girl around here. Should be interesting. :) Good Luck on Tuesday. We'll be thinking of you.

[Jenny, Ted, Emma, and Andrew]

Oh Erin! We think of you often and miss you all a lot! We will be thinking about you on Tuesday. What is Hannah's challenge? Andrew has his first challenge on Tuesday (his first bday) too.

[Teresa Shafer]

Erin --
I so enjoyed watching the videos. You are certainly an amazing Mommy!! I read the blog all the time and just love it. Thanks for sharing those darling girls with me.

LOTS OF LOVE----Teresa Shafer
(Lisa's mother-in-law)