4 year old with swollen lymph node 8+ months
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Hey Everyone, this is my first post so please bear with me while I try to figure out what type of info should be included. I have a 4 year old son, Eli. Last fall I noticed he had a swollen lymph node on the right side of his neck. He is in daycare and had started getting frequent colds, so I chalked it up to just being sick. The majority of the winter he was sick with random colds and sinus infections (also had influenza that required tamiflu) Now, over 8 months later he STILL has this swollen lymphnode. He seems to go down in size a bit, but never fully goes away and swells right back up even when he's not sick. A month ago I took him to his pediatrician to have it checked. She immediately sent him to have lab work and an ultrasound. Everything checked out fine and no worries of lymphoma, so they scheduled a follow up. Yesterday we had the follow up, and since it's still there his Dr referred him to a surgeon for next Tuesday to discuss options. I know there are people who have had similar experiences, so what did you do? I am terrified to have him put under, but a couple weeks ago he had stitches in his forehead (ran into a door at daycare) and even with my husband, a nurse, and myself trying to restrain him he was still moving around. Plus now he is traumatized, so I know that just numbing the area will not be an ideal thing. Are there serious risks to just leaving it until he is older? I have no idea if any of this is relevant, but there were complications during birth. I had a partial abruption so he ingested a lot of fluids and had to have his stomach pumped immediately after birth. Aside from that, he was overall really healthy for the first 6 months. After that is when he started getting periodically sick, but this winter was exceptionally bad. Also, I had a foot surgery 3 years ago that I was put under anesthesia for. Apparently they gave me too much to begin with and had to do manual oxygen pumps for longer than normal to get me back where I needed to be. And then I woke up during the surgery enough to tell my surgeon that I could feel that. Obviously that put me back under and everything was fine, but if I had those issues is there a chance that my son will have the same or was it just a really bad day for my anesthesiologist?
Thank you in advance for any input you can offer!
0 likes, 1 reply
Philly89 Crissie2018
Posted
I can't give a very expert opinion being that your son is so young, I'm not too informed on this situation for a child... But! I can tell you my own experience, I've had multiple swollen lymph nodes on my head/neck area for 5+ months now. They get smaller and then swell up again from time to time but never go away fully. I saw my reg Dr, ENT, dermo and now an oncologist a week ago. All of them said they seem to be skin related (my acne or scalp dermatitis causing them to swell up). Basically from what I've been told by the above drs, as long as the lymph nodes are all small (less than 2 cm), they are nothing to worry about. Even if you have 8 swollen nodes on your neck, as long as they are small and normal, it is not worrisome. My Drs all suggested I just wait it out, come back for a check up every 4 months. I'm a bit surprised they want your child to go to a surgeon and have it removed or something? Lymph nodes are not normally removed from what I understand? Maybe get a second opinion if you feel uncomfortable with it.