July 24, 2011 10:15 AM
Jonny needs surgery, but not serious
I decided a long time ago not to worry about things until we know for sure, so I was not worried about the lump on the back of Jonny's head. Dr. Groeber - best pediatrician in the county in my book - had palpated it and determined that it seemed to be a mass of rubbery tissue which moved when pushed. Since it was outside the skull, it was probably not dangerous.But because he is complaining of pain - and Jonny has the highest pain tolerance of anyone I know - she did send him in for an MRI.
Dr. Groeber called yesterday (Saturday!) with the results. She said it appears to be a lipoma, a benign cyst which many people have and which usually don't require removal. However, since Jonny's does bother him, she is sending us to a surgeon to discuss what to do next.
Jonny has been through surgery before - many before he was two, seven sets of ear tubes, tonsils and adenoids, and just a few years ago corrective foot surgery. So he is a trouper. And what with all the surgeries I've seen Tripp and the kids through, it just isn't the same as it is for a mom facing her first.
Still, please pray that all is as simple as it seems and that it goes smoothly.
Add this to my summer plans - which included dentist check-ups and eye-check-ups for the whole crew, plus beginning orthodontics for Daniel, who will be the eleventh Curtis in braces.
Ay-yi-yi! We're doing our best to grow the economy.
Comments
Hi Barbara,
I will indeed keep Jonny in my prayers--that this surgery will be as smooth and simple as possible. My 7 year old just went for an EEG and is going for an MRI on Wednesday. This is my first experience with a child having to go through this kind of stuff and I find your "not worrying about things until you know for sure" philosphy quite encouraging and comforting. Thank you :)
Posted by: Donna Dorsey | July 24, 2011 3:12 PM
I love your attitude! I think we need to do this parenting thing backwards: as an older mom first, and then a younger mom!
Posted by: Lisa | July 24, 2011 4:15 PM
Barbara, I will be praying that the procedure is very simple and done with a minimum of discomfort for Johnny. He does seem to be quite a trooper!
Thank you, too, for sharing the joys as well as the complications of having a big family! It's so helpful to see how you handle things as I'm learning in the trenches:) I, too, try not to worry until I have something concrete to worry about - don't borrow trouble, as my grandma says - but I married into a family of pessimistic worry worts and hypocondriacs!
Posted by: Shannon M | July 24, 2011 10:12 PM
I noticed we chose different trooper/trouper. Tripp also asked me about this as there's a great deal of confusion about this idiom. Researching takes you all over the map as this seems to be a matter of opinion. But it is clear that the idiom started out as "trouper" meaning a member of an acting troupe who must perform no matter the circumstances - "The show must go on."
Usually in the case of homonym confusion - which I think is becoming more prevalent these days - the truth is logical and clear.
But in the case of trooper/trouper, it's not so clear at all as people sometimes mean "He's a real trooper" to mean that he is brave.
In the case of Jonny, I guess we could mean either, but I really meant trouper as described in the analysis below from http://www.dailywritingtips.com/trooper-or-trouper/:
A reader is bothered by the mixing up of the words trooper and trouper:
Please, please, please write a column on the misuse of “trooper†for “trouper.†In my local newspaper this morning, a family member said this about a terminally-ill child: “She’s a real trooper.†I don’t think the young girl is a member of the police force!
To many English speakers, a trooper is a mounted policeman or soldier. In the U.S., a trooper patrols the roads in a police car.
A trouper is the member of an acting group called a troupe.
The words troop and troupe both entered English from the same French word:
troop: 1540s,â€body of soldiers,†from French troupe.
troupe: 1825, “company, band,†from French troupe.
The OED gives these definitions of the colloquial uses:
trooper: A brave or stalwart person.
trouper: A reliable, uncomplaining person; a staunch supporter or colleague.
One of the citations given in the OED in the entry for trouper is this one:
1912 L. J. VANCE Destroying Angel (1913) vi. 77 I’m as superstitious as any trooper in the profession.
A screenwriter, Vance apparently thought of himself as belonging to the acting profession, yet he used an unexpected spelling.
With two words so similar in origin, meaning, and pronunciation, mix-ups are bound to occur.
Bottom line: If the context has to do with courage, trooper is appropriate. If the context has to do with cooperation, dependability, and the show business attitude of “the show must go on,†then trouper is the word to use.
I once taught a seventh grade class that included a girl suffering from leukemia. She attended school when she could. When she couldn’t, she still did her homework and sent it in. The day I learned that she’d died, I found her last assignment in my mailbox. That little girl was both a trooper and a trouper.
Posted by: Barbara | July 25, 2011 8:35 AM
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for the vocabulary/homonym lesson! I loved it! Also, prayers to you and Johnny for a flawless surgery and speedy recovery.
Posted by: Julie | July 25, 2011 10:27 AM
I have lipomas also and have had so far 7 removed! I hate them. I've never had one on my head, so far just my arms and legs, and now one on my back that bugs me to no end. I've had those removed on 3 separate occasions - each was a little different - different surgeons - but all with local anesthetic. Some of my lypomas hurt and some itch - they are very irritating. For those that don't get them it is hard to explain how a lump of tissue under the skin can be so bothersome. As I get older I am getting more and more of them. I'm consider general anesthetic next time so that I can have more removed at once and be done with them. Praying Johnny has no problems!
Posted by: Melissa | July 26, 2011 11:14 PM
Oh, Melissa - that sounds awful. Thanks for your prayers for Jonny. I'll pray for you too - to finally be free of the lipoma-plague.
Posted by: Barbara | July 27, 2011 7:22 AM
