Can you even pronounce it? Wondering what it is? Intrigued to see where this post is going to go?
Thyroglossal duct cyst - It usually presents as a midline neck lump (in the region of the hyoid bone) that is usually painless, smooth and cystic, though if infected, pain can occur.
That is just a snip of it, of the whole wikipedia definition, but it's something we are learning about week by week.
Let's go back three weeks and I am watching Henry talk and talk and talk. I'm now staring at him and his throat. I bring him upstairs to Charlie and have him look at it. Apparently, Charlie noticed it a couple days before and said he told me, but I must have missed that. We agree to call our pediatrician because something isn't right.
We get an appointment that day and they test for strep. If you don't know Henry, HE HATES, people touching his head or holding him down. Let's say the strep test took 3 nurses to hold him down to swab his throat. Once that came back negative, the doctor said, we should just monitor it and she was sure it was a swollen lymph node.
I wasn't comfortable with that answer and asked if there was anything else that can be done. I mean, my child has a lump sticking out of his throat, that is not his adam's apple and you want me to monitor it... Yeah, no. So, she agreed to send us for an ultrasound on his throat. Imagine my reaction after three nurses sitting on him for a strep test, that I now had to take him for an ultrasound.
He surprised me and did really well. He thought is was so cool to see inside his throat. (Disclaimer: he has no idea, what is going on). The radiologist came in and told us he has a thyroglossal duct cyst. Now, earlier that morning we had talked to Grandpa and he actually thought that is what it was, so it was confirmed.
Of course, we go home and google the shit out of this and the steps that need to be taken. That leads us to today, where we drove to Children's Hospital in Fairfax and met with the surgeon to see our next steps. Our next step...schedule a CT scan to see if his thyroid is working. Which means my child will need dye for the CT scan. A few paragraphs ago, I told you it took 3 nurses for a strep test, so this will probably need sedation and an entire staff to make this happen. We are hoping to schedule the test for sometime next week.
Once those results are in, we will be told the next step. Surgery will be coming, unless for some reason the cyst is acting as his thyroid. The doctor did not think that is the case but she needs to be sure. So, if it is the cyst and no thyroid issue, he will have surgery on his throat and they will remove the cyst and any bone fragments. Most likely, this will be an overnight stay at Children's in DC but we will get to that hurdle when it is time.
We are telling him nothing and will wait to see what happens at the CT scan. He hears us talking about it and heard the doctor talking about surgery but he really has no idea what is going on. He's happy and excited to get a new Skylander after each appointment. We really don't need him to know because he would worry the entire time and we are doing enough worrying for everyone.
So, for now we wait.