Because life isn’t crazy enough right now, the other night I hung out in the emergency department with Humphrey for a few hours. Sounds fun, right? Who wouldn’t want to spend a Tuesday night hanging with an unsettled 2 year old in an uncomfortable bed while his hand refuses to stop bleeding?
We noticed a small growth on the back of his hand almost a month ago and thought nothing of it. It didn’t seem to bother him, he wasn’t scratching it or saying it hurt. It just looked like a small pimple. So we just left it.
One day it got bumped against the wood fence and started bleeding a bit. Not big deal stick a Band-Aid on he was right as rain. It seemed to heal up from the bleed but didn’t go away. It still wasn’t bothering him but had changed to look more like a blood blister.
It bled a couple more times over the next fortnight. Now when it bled it was like a river flowing, fast and constant, but would always stop after a few minutes. We had decided to get it looked at and were debating about going to the GP or trying Telehealth, video consultation.
I’d been keeping a Band-Aid on it everyday to prevent it getting knocked at day care. Last night we were changing it and cleaning his hand when it started to bleed, again. I did the usual clean up and stuck a Band-Aid on but within 30 seconds that Band-Aid was soaked and so were his pyjamas.
We had never seen a cut bleed so much, so fast. I put pressure on it for 5 minutes but that didn’t help at all. We went through a number of tissues and cloths and ended up putting ga movie on to get him to sit still. I applied pressure for 15min while holding his hand above his heart and the bleeding appeared to have stopped.
At the end of the movie the bandage was quite red but not growing so we decided to put a clean one of before bed. Bad decision Mum! Before the old one even got half way off blood was pouring over his hand, and this time nothing was stopping it.
Hubby called the after hours line who had no helpful advice so off to the emergency room I went. While COVID-19 is terrible, last night I was thankful as the ED was empty. We waiting maybe 5 minutes and that included check in and triage time.
We had a lovely doctor, he was gentle with Humphrey, chatted about Peppa Pig, dinosaurs and his siblings but Humphrey wasn’t having any of it. While the doctor was trying to check him over , he screamed and fought the whole time. It’s amazing how strong a 2 year old really is when they want to be.
After determining that there was only one bump, he took the bandage off to look. And it looked like a war zone. Blood was running down my hands and arm, Humphreys arm and he’d splattered his face while fighting. The doctor underestimated how much blood was coming out so we soaked all his gauze within a minute.
He went through the motions of applying pressure and trying different bandages but nothing was working to even slow the flow. He hadn’t seen anything like it so went to ask for help. The next doctor was also stumped but eventually we got to a doctor who seemed to know exactly what it was.
He still couldn’t be sure because a clear look at the bump wasn’t possible with the amount of blood coming out. He did offer 2 different suggestions and applied a clotting agent that he was sure would work. 15 minutes later and still no luck. In what felt like a last ditch effort they applied one more type of padding, that had to be cut down to fit such a small hand but it had success.
After 5 hours of constant bleeding it finally slowed then stopped. The doctor diagnosed the bump as a pyrogenic granuloma. A benign growth that has a tendency to bleed easily and profusely. Now we have a diagnosis but it’s not something that can be fixed in the ED so we have a referral to a dermatology clinic.
It’s possible that he will have to have a minor surgery on the granuloma to cut it out. They go deeper into the skin and can reoccur if left untreated, if they heal in the first place. We’d rather not have surgery but it might be the only way to ensure Humphrey wont get any more. I’ve been told that its not common to get them in other areas, just because you had one, fingers crossed.
I have to give it to the staff last night. The doctors and nurses we dealt with were all wonderful, patient and accommodating. Humphrey stopped screaming and fighting after the initial once over and on the way out, at midnight, was blowing kisses and telling the doctors he loved them.
He blew a kiss to every person we passed. I saw 6 security guards who were looking rather solemn, light up like a kid on Christmas morning, they waved and smiled and told him he looked so brave. I saw people in the waiting room go from grumpy and angry to happy in an instant. Who can resist a 2 year old in dinosaur ugg boots and a tiny dressing gown blowing kisses to you at midnight?
After being in the ED for hours, with a hand that he couldn’t move and blood pouring out he was the light of room. I was ready to drop and would have rushed out of there but that wonderful 2 year old took a couple of extra minutes to make people smile. It’s not a conscious thing, there is no effort required, it is just Humphrey.
He went to day care and had a fun day. His carers didn’t even know he barely slept last night where as I was functioning on about 40% productivity. Man, I wish I had little kid energy. Since our visit his hand hasn’t bled again and we just have to keep it covered until the dermatologist appointment, which we haven’t been given yet.