Savannah's Development...

So a little background on this whole ordeal:

Two Saturdays ago I noticed that Savannah had lumps in her breasts, kind of hard-ish and round-ish. I asked Joe-Z if he'd noticed it and he said he'd felt them for the first time the night before. I called the on-call doc, but they said it didn't warrant an urgent care appointment and to just call our normal pediatrician on Monday morning. So I did, and they wanted to check her out "just in case." He ruled out an infection that day and sent us for a blood test, "just in case". He said that if she'd have been a newborn or even a couple weeks old he wouldn't be concerned, since lots of newborns (boys and girls) often have breast buds. But, since she is older he wanted to make sure her estrogen levels were normal.

On Wednesday of last week we got the call informing us that indeed her levels were high and we needed to do an ultrasound, "just in case" and have us meet with a pediatric endocrinologist. So, we went for the ultrasound on Monday morning (and, can I just say, Savannah was fantastic...didn't cry once!) and we were waiting for our appointment on Thursday to follow up with her pediatrician. Well, to my surprise, the phone rang Tuesday morning and it was our very own pediatrician, Dr. Jones. The only other time I've had a doctor call me at home was to tell me they'd seen something concerning on my ultrasound with John Morgan and we needed some additional testing, so I knew when I heard his voice that something was up.

He informed us that Savannah has a growth on her right ovary. The growth is pressing down on her ovary causing more estrogen to be produced and released, hence the enlargement of her breasts. At this point, they believe that it is a cyst. Statistically speaking, the chances are greater that it's a cyst. If it is, it will go away on its own and her estrogen levels will go back to normal. (Whether her body will go back to normal is unknown at this point, we'll have to wait to see the endo. to find out) As far as what causes the cysts, my doctor didn't know. Once again, a question for the endo. On the flip side, if it's not a cyst, then it's a tumor. A germ-cell tumor, which can be benign or malignant. The chances of this are smaller, and so the chances of it being cancerous are even smaller. The way to determine the nature of the growth is to wait and see...which is killing me. { I never really have had patience to brag about :o) } If her symptoms continue (a process they call feminizing, meaning her breasts and other female parts continue to mature) and her estrogen levels don't drop back down, then they'll know it's a tumor. I asked how long this "wait and see" process is supposed to take, and was once again greeted with "I don't know, you'll have to talk to Dr. Deeb about that." At least he's honest, I suppose. At that point I began to be frustrated with the unanswered questions...I figured if he'd seen it before then he should have had more answers for me. So I asked him how common it was and he laughed out loud and told me that in their practice, this was *maybe* the second case they'd seen. (Then I felt silly and mentally cursed myself for that lack of patience attribute!) He did say that her height and weight growth are very encouraging. Usually babies with cancer don't thrive as well as Savannah has been, so that's a plus. So, for now, we keep our appointment with the pediatric endocrinologist for the beginning of February and see what he has to tell us then.

All in all, it's been a roller coaster. We're very happy to have news though, and to at least know the source of it all. And we're very hopeful that it is just a cyst. She's just so perfect, you know? How could anything be that wrong with a little one so perfect? One thing we do know, is that families can be together forever. Whether we spend six months or six years or sixty years with Savannah here on this earth, she'll be ours forever! No news can be of more comfort to us than that!