We had a scare with Eden, but everything looks like it will be OK now. She has a lump on her neck, right in the center below where her Adam’s apple would be. It didn’t seem like a big deal. It was hidden by her many chins. Yesterday the skin got irritated so that it turned red. Suddenly it looked like a pretty scary lump.

I tried to get an appointment with our pediatrician, but he was out of town. Elisa visited a different practicioner, and then they sent her to the Kinderspital. At the hospital they took three ultrasounds of Eden’s neck. We had to do our best to follow along with what was going on. They mostly just spoke German. We also had to do our best to restrain Eden while they examined her. She likes to be independent, so she hates to have her head held still. She wore herself out screaming. 🙁

In a thyroidal duct there is a cyst left over from her development. It’s kind of common for a baby to have one. This one got infected though, and swelled into a grape-sized lump. They brought all the doctors in to see our little celebrity. Eden’s white blood cell count is fine, so the infection hasn’t spread. Eden has been happy, and she hasn’t fevered, and it doesn’t hurt her to have the lump touched. The surgeon eventually decided to administer antibiotics for two weeks. Then after that, the cyst will still have to be removed, just to make sure it doesn’t get infected again.

So we are going to give Eden antibiotics out of a dropper twice a day. We are still going to leave for London on our vacation this Thursday. As soon as we get back, we’ll take her in for surgery. The surgery isn’t supposed to be dangerous or worrisome. Since it’s at a teaching hospital, Elisa and I are hoping that there is a way for us to observe. Are we crazy? 🙂 The Swiss like to keep an eye on their patients, so Eden will probably spend a few days in the hospital.

I’ve never known the words to that song. Where do people pick up that kind of thing? Lots of people seemed to know how to sing it.

DeVotchKa gave a New Year’s Eve performance at the Show Box. Daniel gave tickets to everyone in the family. Those guys are super talented. Everyone played more than one instrument REALLY well. They had a real gypsy sound. I liked it a lot. Jeff and Lauren suggested earplugs before the show. That was a great idea because it was loud even with them in the whole time.

We took a cab in from Mercer Island. What a great idea! We came late so that we could have dinner at home and feed Eden before we left. That worked out great too, because the show didn’t start until after 10 pm. We all split off kind of funny at the end so that we could drive Daniel and Kim home. We got home at around 2:30. And just as we went upstairs, Eden woke up to eat again. Perfect timing!