Now, I will take us back to August 2016, when I noticed this little spot behind Kerstin's left ear. At first I was thinking maybe her earring had scratched her or the post had stuck her and I immediately started applying an antibiotic ointment to it. It seemed to smooth out some but, later it came back and appeared bigger and no matter what I applied it seemed to keep growing. All while growing, it become more irritating to Kerstin, she did not want it touched in any way, not to have the area cleaned while bathing, not to mistakenly touch it while dressing or anything.
 |
| continuing to grow |
In October of that year, Kerstin had an appointment with a dermatologist that I walked away from still unsettled and wanting more answers. The appointment just did not seem thorough or complete. There had been cultures (cultivation of microorganisms) done on this area only to come back negative for any types of fungi. So, back in December of 2017 a new medical doctor was added to Kerstin's team and the center of her medical home, a female! Yes, we were enthusiastic about it and she went right to work with us. On a thorough exam of missy, she determined that she would refer her out to another dermatologist.
February 2018, Kerstin had a new appointment with dermatology and it was determined that a biopsy needed to be performed in ordered to know how to properly treat this spot, whatever it may be. Scary thought of this in office procedure where a small plug of her skin would be cut so that it could be properly tested. We have to do things that are oftentimes scary in order to take care of our children. The process included a numbing applicant, that would be in place for 30 to 45 minutes before the cut. Then, post cut, we had to wait another 30 minutes to ensure that the bleeding had stopped before she could leave.
The wait! It is so hard to be patient and wait on the results of a skin growth on your child. Then the call comes and the nurse says she is calling from dermatology with biopsy results. Take a deep breath and listen, "epidermal nevus". What? A very irritating and itchy skin mole. It may come back but she has been prescribed a skin topical and now she needs to bath with have her hair washed with products that contain ketoconazole as an ingredient. Since February, that nevus has inflamed twice, the cream is applied and it goes away again. Another step on this journey.
More to come...
References:
Epidermal nevus. NIH U.S. National Library of Medicine https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/epidermal-nevus
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