Fright Night

Wednesday evening, after work, I stopped by to see our friends, Hal Humphreys and Kim Green, at their house on Halcyon Avenue. While I was there, Jude called. She was out running errands with John Patrick and wanted to stop by. She did and John Patrick slept in the living room in his car seat, while we sat around the island between the kitchen and dining room, having a glass of wine and talking.

When John Patrick awoke, I lifted him out of his car seat and sat him down the counter between us. He was sitting up all by himself, which is his big thing lately, and playing with a plastic spoon, when Hal asked, "what is that lump on the back of his neck?" Jude and I looked at each other, then felt around the right side of the back of his neck, near the base of his skull, and sure enough, there was a small lump. My heart nearly stopped, as my mind raced through a set of worst case scenarios. We stayed for a while longer, then drove home.

It was too late to call our doctor, so Jude agreed to call him the next morning at 9 a.m., when his office opened for the day. We played with John Patrick for a while, then put him to bed. After Jude went up for bed a while later, I did a little research on the Internet. WebMD is a dangerous tool when in the wrong hands, particularly those of a frightened father like me. I didn't sleep well at all that night, as you can imagine.

Thursday morning, Jude went to work first. I had a mediation in Nashville, so I fed John Patrick and waited on our nanny, Carley to arrive. When I told her about the lump on his neck, she assured me he would be fine. Jude was able to get him in to see our doctor at 10:15 a.m.

Dr. Godfrey examined him, felt the lump, and suggested it's most likely a swollen lymph node from an infection he's picked up somewhere. In my research, I had read that infants can get swollen lymph nodes if they have excema or get a scratch on their face or head. We were relieved, needless to say, but we're still going to keep a close eye on it.

Man, being a parent is scary sometimes.