Hemangioma Shcmangioma

We went to the Dr. this morning, Chris Nibisio- a woman, she was really nice and she looked at the hemangioma and said that is a larger one and still growing, she can tell because it is not a dark purple color. (the ones on his arm and back are dark purple so hopefully going to go down soon) she said that since it is in a tricky spot and still growing she wants us to see Dr. Hagstrom, she is the regional expert on hemangiomas and studied with the national expert in Milwakee. Dr. N. said there is a chance that Dr. H will want to do laser surgery right then and there on it for treatment. I asked if there were any risks to that and she said no, it is very safe but it will hurt, it feels like a rubber band being snapped on your skin- fine for adults but baby wont like it! She also said the dr. H might say lets wait and see how it grows. There are also medicines that can be injected which would be another route.

Henry has a total of 3 significant hemangiomas (I say significate because he has a tiny freckle sized one on his head and the one on the neck is really two that has grow into one) and children that have 5 or more usually undergo testing to see if there are any internal hemangiomas, like in the liver. She said Dr. H might suggest looking (which is done through an Ultrasound-painless) because of the size of the one on the neck.

Dr. N was able to get us into Dr. H on April 6, Chris and I are both going. She is at the IU Med Hospital downtown. Dr. N said that if I had tried to schedule him myself it would have been 6 months before we could get in, the fact that I saw her first and she called for the appt. we got in in a week. So I am happy we went.

In the meantime, Dr. N said that we should just keep it really goopy with aquaphor to keep it from scabbing and hurting. She said there is no need to overwash it or put gauze on it. Henry seems to be feeling better too, itt seem as sensitive since I have been using ointment on it. So basically the ER dr. at St. Vincent Ped. ER was an idiot and I wish we weren't sent there but oh well. So after a week we had 3 dr. visits and one ER visit and now I finally feel like we are getting somewhere!

- Jan and Mr. Goopyneck.