Teen Mom star Kailyn Lowry reveals why she is suffering from 'mom guilt' after son Rio's misdiagnosed lump
On the latest episode of her podcast, Coffee Convos, the Teen Mom alum, 33, revealed she discovered what she initially believed to be 'a little hernia' on her two-year-old son Rio's torso.
A doctor examined the bump last year and assured her it would 'resolve itself' - however the lump remained and has only grown worse.
Rio underwent an ultrasound which determined neoplasia - a tumor - could not be ruled out.
Now, a 'freaked' out Lowry is taking action to correct the issue - and is using her own experience to warn others about the importance of making health a top priority.
'He developed what I thought was like a little hernia above his bellybutton,' the mom of seven - who shares son Rio with ex-fiance Elijah Scott - began. 'And I thought it was from the ISR swim lessons because he has to roll over and float on his back, and so I thought the stress of that created this like little lump that looked like a hernia.'
'So last year I took him to the doctor and they were like, "Oh, you know, it's fine, it'll resolve itself, it's not a big deal. Send him on his way, we'll figure it out." Cool, no problem.
'This year, over the last couple weeks, I've noticed this protruding out of his abdomen,' she said.
She sent her co-host a photo of the lump and noted it 'sort of looks discolored a little bit' if zoomed in.
'So, I text Elijah and I'm like, "Hey, I've got to call the pediatrician and get him in for this 'cause like at this point... it is worse than it was last year.'
'So we go to the pediatrician, and the pediatrician is like, "This is not a hernia, I'm going to get you in for ultrasound ASAP." Or I think she said stat.'
'Then the ultrasound came back and they're like, "This is definitely not a hernia,"' she added.
'To this day, right now as I'm telling you this, no one has read me the results... So on the like chart thing that I logged into, it says "Reniform nodule in the area of interest consistent with lymph node. The differential include granuloma or complex cyst. Neoplasia cannot be excluded"... And neoplasia is a tumor. So that cannot be excluded. And obviously as a mom, the first thing that my stomach sunk, and I was like, "What the f**k? What do you mean it cannot be excluded?"
According to the Los Angeles Public Health Department, 'Neoplasia (nee-oh-PLAY-zhuh) is the uncontrolled, abnormal growth of cells or tissues in the body, and the abnormal growth itself is called a neoplasm (nee-oh-PLAZ-m) or tumor. It can be benign (bee-NINE) or malignant.
'Benign neoplasms do not grow aggressively, do not invade the surrounding body tissues, and do not spread throughout the body.
'Malignant neoplasms, on the other hand, tend to grow rapidly, invade the tissues around them, and spread, or metastasize (me-TAS-ta-size), to other parts of the body.
'The word 'tumor' or 'mass' is often used to describe the actual swelling or other physical appearance of a neoplasm. The word 'cancer' is often confused with neoplasia, but only malignant neoplasms are truly cancers.'
The results led to Lowry seeking advice from her aunt, a pathologist, who suggested have the entire lump removed during a potential biopsy.
'And then it said, "options are clinical follow-up or tissue diagnosis." Which I think a tissue diagnosis would be a biopsy, which is fine,' she said. 'My aunt is a pathologist in Pennsylvania, I texted it to her, and she told me... "If they're going to sedate him to do a biopsy, have them just remove the whole thing." So that's what we're going to do... I actually have to call general surgery to make an appointment with them, to have them look at it.
'I say all this to say, when it comes to your health, check everything out, because I really thought it was a hernia this whole time.'
'They told me it was going to resolve itself, I didn't ask for a second opinion... And if you have access to medical treatment or care, like go check it out, because now I'm like, mom guilt, and then also just like the fact that neoplasia cannot be ruled out just freaked me out.'
Lowry shared a photo of her son appearing to undergo the ultrasound to her Instagram account on Monday.
The photo showed Rio sitting on his mother's lap as the technician processed the procedure.
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