What a week!

Vinnie and I are currently watching Backyardigans at the Arkansas Children's Hospital. What turned into a minor illness ended up revealing a larger problem!

Two weeks ago Vinnie was diagnosed with croup. Not a big deal in itself. He was still little wheezy on Friday of last week so I took him back to the pediatrician. She wanted to get a X ray to make sure there was not a small object lodged in his throat. The xray revealed a mass in Vincents throat. We would not have any answers as to what the mass was until he saw an ear, nose, and throat doctor on Tuesday. You can imagine how anxious we were all weekend.

On Tuesday I took Vinnie to see Dr Klug at the Midsouth ear, nose, and throat clinic. He put some numbing solution in his nose (you can imagine Vinnie was less than pleased about that). He then took a camera through his nose to see his throat. He saw what looked like scar tissue taking up part of his airway. He immediately said he wanted to send us to Little Rock to see Dr Bowen who is an ENT (ear nose throat) surgeon. Memphis has some of the best doctors in many areas, but ENT is not one of them. He said if he sent me to any of the they would want to put a trachea in Vincents throat. He said it was urgent, but not a life threatening emergency at that time.

I received a call Wednesday that we needed to see Dr Bowen in Little Rock on Thursday. Grandma Vic and I left bright and early to make his appointment at noon. Dr Bowen studied medicine under the number one throat surgeon in the united States. He is also a very kind easy to talk to person. We instantly felt confident and at ease with him. He also looked at Vincent's throat with the camera through the nose. he saw what looked like a cyst and also some potential scar tissue on Vincent's vocal cords. The cyst was taking up a portion of his airway. He suggested surgery asap.

Today (Friday) Vincent had surgery to remove the cyst and exploratory surgery to have a better look at the area while Vin was under. When he got in there he found 4 cysts in his airway. He said they were taking up somewhere between half and 2/3rds of his airway. They were removed. His vocal cords look pretty good. One looked like it had slight scaring. Vincent will follow up with Dr Bowen in Little Rock in one month. He will then see Dr Klug for the next year to ensure no cysts return and track his verbal skills.

These types of cysts in the throat typically only occur in children. Among children it is usually those that have been on a ventilator for an extended period of time like Vinnie was. For my preemie moms I highly suggest getting this checked out if your child was on a vent and is wheezing. Better safe than sorry. He said it is quite common among these children and can be very dangerous as the cysts grow larger blocking the airways.

I almost hate to say it, but we were fortunate that Vincent got sick. If he didn't I'm afraid of when/how this issue would have been found.

Vincent is sleeping now. He has been recovering well, but it has been a tough couple of weeks for him. We should be going home tomorrow as long as he is keeping everything down and breathing well.

I will post more details and some pictures soon.