Head Updates

Oh boy has my head been hurting. I have had 4 migraines in the last two weeks. And on the days when I haven't had a migraine, I have had smaller annoying headaches that seem to come and go. Along with the pain in my head comes a weird stiff neck, nausea, and dizziness. When I'm having these headaches I have this overall sick tired feeling, like I just need to lay down. I can't figure out what is causing all my headaches. But I do know I have felt exactly this same way in the past, beginning when Ryan was maybe 8 months old. I even remember going to the doctor back then and having some bloodwork run. Everything was good, so I chalked it up to being stressed or tired. But here I am again, feeling sick and in pain almost every day. I talked to my sister and she diagnosed me with exhaustion. If only there was a guaranteed prescription for that!

Speaking of head pain, Andrew had a pretty bad fall a couple weeks ago. He was walking around in the kitchen with a sippy cup full of water that was leaking. He slipped in a puddle of water and fell flat on his back, hitting his head really hard on the floor. The back of his head swelled up with a goose egg bump, but he was acting normal. Then about a week later he did the same thing and conked his head again. Fast forward another week and the goose egg bump is gone. But in its place is a hard weirdly shaped lump on the back of his skull. It almost feels like a tiny piece of his bone broke off. After worrying about it for a couple days I took him in to the doctor today.

The doctor's initial thought was that it was a dermoid cyst. (That's what Jenna had removed.) Then I told him about Andrew's falls. The doctor drew me a picture of the layers of skin down to the skull and brain. He said what probably happened is the initial blood was absorbed back into Andrew's body, but that calcium deposits in the blood cells remained there, and that is the hard lump we are feeling. But then he felt it again and decided he needed an x-ray to rule out a skull fracture. And I was like NOPE, no more skull fractures!

The head x-ray was about as fun as you'd expect. Thankfully the doctor just let us know tonight that the results showed no fracture. Unfortunately, the bump on the back of his head may stay there for a very long time, because the calcium isn't absorbed back into his body. It is unfortunate, because Andrew has such a perfectly shaped head. That was the top comment we heard in the hospital when he was born....what a beautifully shaped head!