The conclusion of the lump saga

We have just returned from Michael's hospital appointment. It took 1.5 hours for 2 people to determine that he has... a lipoma or a cyst. Initially we saw a trainee who wasn't allowed to read the doctor's referral letter (I had read it so told him what it said) and wasn't allowed to give us a diagnosis. He asked a lot of questions and prodded and poked Michael. He seemed bemused that Michael wouldn't open his mouth for him, and somewhat alarmed when I cautioned him that putting a finger in his mouth was entirely at his own risk. We were then left to our own devices for half an hour or so before the trainee reappeared with the head of department. She performed pretty much the same checks but by this point Michael was really in need of a nap and was heading towards meltdown at alarming speed. Lipomas can come in clusters and even in organs which was the reason for the very thorough checks.

It appears that Michael has only the one lump and it is harmless as far as the doctors can tell. It does not interfere with his eye or cause him any pain. It will probably not grow but we are going back to the hospital to check that in 3 months. They would not be able to determine for certain whether it is a cyst or lipoma without invasive tests. That is too much for a little baby and does not appear to be necessary.

So... that is the end of that... hopefully. Amusingly, when we first arrived, the trainee thought (because he had not been allowed to read the referral letter) that we were there to discuss the fact that Michael is so large for his age. If he knew just how large the men in both our families are then he wouldn't be at all surprised at the size of Michael. My uncle is a good 2 inches taller than Phil and Phil isn't exactly tiny at 6' 3".