Strawberry Hemangioma Anyone?

It certainly was an interesting day! Let me give you a little insight into what made it so interesting...

At the beginning of last week I noticed a small red dot on B's cheek. It was no bigger than a pin head. At first I thought it was just a speck of food. Upon examination it appeared to be blood under the skin. As the week went on it became more puffy looking, but still the size of a pin head. On Saturday it burst (for lack of a better term). This small dot bled, and bled, and bled some more. On Sunday there were two episodes of bleeding. This morning it bled for 1/2 an hour with no end in sight, so I called the pediatrician to make an appointment. Upon examination it was determined this tiny bleeding speck was a strawberry hemangioma (basically a tiny benign tumor). They quickly made an appointment for him to be seen in plastic surgery this afternoon to have this area "lasered" and they informed me the physician needed to sedate him for the procedure! This was officially more than I bargained for.

So I go home with my little strawberry boy and come back a couple of hours later. The plastic surgeon comes in and says he has decided we will just keep an eye on it. OK, I did not come back to the clinic so we could be charged another office visit & just keep an eye on it. I came back to the clinic for some resolve (which I received after indicating I was not really interested in "keeping an eye on it"). Two year olds are not really interested in sitting still while pressure is being applied to their cheek several times a day for 30 minutes...really!

Thankfully I am aware of the benefits of using a child life specialist for procedures. Through conversations with them I also learned that it would not be necessary to do a deep sedation so we ended up only using a local anesthetic. I work for Children's Miracle Network which provides the funding for this wonderful service. They played with him before the procedure which made him feel at ease. They helped swaddle and distract him so his tears and fears were at a minimum. These girls do great work!

So although it was an interesting day I'm thankful this little guy is fine and that it turned about to be nothing major.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever

Psalm 118:1