Evan's Operation

For those family and friends who I haven't updated. Evan is having surgery this Friday 1/23 to remove a cyst on his ear. (click on the pic to see the protrusion on the right ear) The doctor called it a dermoid cyst and said that pretty much our only option is to remove it or it will only get larger and wear away the cartilage on his ear and cause major cosmetic issues. He's a cute kid and we don't want that to happen right?! According to Dr. Palmer, Evan has had this cyst since birth and we are just now noticing it because it's getting bigger. Upon further inspection of our photo collection, it's apparent on pictures as far back as one year! Not our finest parenting huh? I like to blame the over site on dad who's been cutting Evan's hair since he was six months old! You like how I transfer blame!! The operation will be on an outpatient basis, and the tissue from the cyst will be sent to pathology to make sure there's no cancerous tissue but Dr. Palmer says he's pretty sure it's a benign cyst....THANK GOD!

I've been preparing Evan mentally for the procedure, we checked out books from the library (he even has the book memorized), printed out coloring sheets from the Internet,and we talk about it every chance we get. He's actually excited about surgery! That's Evan....always up for a challenge! We'll keep ya posted on the recovery.

A dermoid cyst is a cystic teratoma that contains developmentally mature skin complete with hair follicles and sweat glands, sometimes luxuriant clumps of long hair, and often pockets of sebum, blood, fat, bone, nails, teeth, eyes, cartilage, and thyroid tissue. Because it contains mature tissue, a dermoid cyst is almost always benign. Treatment for dermoid cyst is complete surgical removal, preferably in one piece and without any spillage of cyst contents. (Excerpt from Wikipedia)