The Beauty Mark

As many of you know, we went to Seattle Children's Hospital this week to have the mark on Whitney's face looked at. We were pretty sure it was a hemangioma but now it is official. We met with the dermatologist and she said it is definitely a hemangioma which is pretty much a collection of blood vessels. Normally they go away on their own over a few years and there is nothing to worry about. That is not exactly the case for Whitney. Hers would most likely go away on it's own but because it is so close to her eye there is more to worry about. The first worry is that as it gets bigger it might put too much pressure on her eye and affect her vision. It might even start to close her eye. The other worry is a syndrome called PHACE syndrome. The doctor said this is very rare, so don't get too worried, but sometimes the hemangioma can affect the brain and the heart. So, to rule out PHACE syndrome we are going back to Seattle and Whitney will have an MRI on her brain, which she will be put to sleep for, and she will have to meet with the cardiologist to have tests done on her heart. She will also have to meet with the eye specialist to make sure it is not affecting her eye. That is not going to be a fun couple of days. Since the doctor is concerned about the hemangioma continuing to grow and causing problems, like vision problems and it breaking open causing infections, we are going to take action and try to stop it from growing. Right now Whitney is on a medication that I apply to the hemangioma which is supposed to help it stop growing. If all the tests at the hospital look good then we are going to stop this medication and she is going to be put on a drug called Propranolol. She will have to take it 3 times a day for atleast 6 months. The problem with this propranolol is that it will lower her heart rate and blood pressure. So they are going to teach us how to check those and we will have to check it on a regualr basis to make sure they don't get too low. She will have to meet with a doctor monthly while on the medication and hopefully after 6 months the hemangioma will be mostly gone. Lots of you have been asking about laser surgery which the doctor did mention. She said that because Whitney's mark is so big it might not completely go away and her skin will probably never be as smooth as the rest of her face. She said that in the future we might need laser to lighten it more. Although she might not need is at all, we shall wait and see. I know that was a lot if info but I know some of you were wondering what is going on. We should be going back to Seattle within the next month to get the tests done and gets her started on the medication. I will keep you posted on how it goes. We are excited to start getting this taken care of but I am not going to lie, I am a little scared at the same time. I'm sure it will all go well. We sure love this little girl!