Update On McKenna (Oct. 29th 2007)

So we met with the Pediatric surgeon at Children's Mercy Hospital on Wednesday. He was more informative and attentive then any other doctor as of yet-- so my over all impression was good. He also agrees that the tumor is a Lymphangioma. He says it is rare, but not incredibly so . . . He does have children/patients he treats with them.

So he described it like this-- basically it's a piece of lymph tissue that is not hooked up to the rest of her lymph system correctly-- so it's like a dead end. Once lymph fluid went in it had no way out so it backed up and created the tumor. According to him this is usually an isolated event, but since it is a birth defect she could have defective tissue elsewhere that could cause tumors. It's impossible to know until there is a problem though because the tissue is so microscopic. Of course we are hoping it is indeed an isolated event!!

He said the risks with not doing anything about her tumor are that-

1. It could become infected-- the obvious reason is it is stagnant fluid that probably has toxins in it. This would be bad and require hospitalization and i.v. antibiotics.

2. It could hemorrage-- not deadly, but it would be ugly and traumatic.

3. As she grows it will grow and could wrap itself around vital structures making it harder to remove.

According to him there are two options--

1. Surgery- a 2 hour procedure where they would cut her open and try to remove all of the defective tissue and tumor. She would be under anesthesia and on i.v. antibiotics. There is a 14% reoccurrence rate and there would definitely be a scar.

2. Sclerotherapy-- (a new way of taking care of Lymphangiomas) A 1 hour procedure done by an Interventional Radiologist-- where using Ultrasound as a guide they would insert a needle in her tumor and inject a drug of some sort that would scar the tissue down so no more fluid could flow in. They would install a tiny drain under her arm so as the tissue scarred down the fluid would drain out-- the drain would be removed a few days later. She would still have antibiotics and still be under anesthesia, but it would be less invasive with little scarring on the outside. This is a fairly new way to treat Lymphangiomas so there are no percentages about success, failure, side effects etc...

The surgeon said if it were his kid he'd look into Scelrotherapy. So he contacted another doctor who does Sclerotherapy and after reviewing McKenna's case he has said she does seem a good canidate for this.

So now we have a decision to make . . .

Honestly-- it all sounds horrible and is against everything I believe about how we should treat our bodies. My children are not immunized, we do not do antibiotics(unless it is a very severe infection), we do not do cold medicine or tylenol. McKenna has not had any man-made drug or medicine of any sort EVER!!! (in her time in the womb-- I had nothing either) I think modern medicine has it's place in emergencies, but they waaaaay over do it-- everywhere else. I do not take ANY experts advice or opinion without looking into it myself. And I believe our bodies are amazing and have the ability with some wisdom, instinct and facilitation to heal itself.

That said-- I do believe this is a defect. And that something should be done.

My theory on how it happened is-- Mckenna had just started sitting in her airplane saucer the week her tumor came up. The morning it happened she sat in it for almost an hour and was leaning forward/propped up under that right armpit the whole time. I believe maybe she was putting a bit too much pressure in that spot and maybe cut off some circulation. Her body responded by sending extra fluids rushing to that area and some defective tissue that hadn't filled with fluid before-- filled up. Most of the doctors are poo pooing this theory, but I don't CARE!! Doctors are amazingly disinterested in how things happen and waaay too eager to treat symptoms and remain ignorant. So if her body had not filled that area with fluid before it's because it was not needed and not used under normal functioning circumstances. Therefore could her body drain and absorb the fluid and resolve the tumor-- I think it could!!!

We need results though-- not theories!!! Soooooo our decision is we will do everything we know to do naturally until the 3rd week in December. I am done teaching for Christmas vacation then... I will schedule the sclerotherapy for that week-- I'm choosing the Sclerotherapy because it's less-invasive. I really hope it will go away-- obviously . . . But if it does not-- I will be grateful to medical science for taking care of it.

Everyone pray that it goes away!!

Love you all . . .