If you're reading this, then you probably already know about Scout's hemangioma on her nose. If you don't know, I'll brief you.
--At Scout's 3 month old well-baby visit, Dr Few informed us that Scout had a hemangioma on her nose that would most probably need laser treatments and/or eventually invasive surgery. We found this out within one month of our move to Williamsburg, so we were referred to a surgeon in Norfolk. While we were there, Scout had 7 laser surgeries over the course of 9 months. At her last surgery in April, we opted for her to have no more surgeries for fear of eventually damaging her skin. At this point, the surgeries had kept the hemangioma small, which was the goal of the process. (If it grew large, it could damage cartilage and the structure of her nose.) The doctors felt this was the best thing to do...buy time with the eventual hope that it would dissolve and go away as she got older. When we moved back to Greenville in May, we were able to get Dr Few back for Scout's pediatrician...yay! He referred us to a surgeon in G'ville who more-or-less wanted to just watch it and just see what happened. At Scout's 18 month old well-baby visit, she started laughing at some point and Dr Few thought she sounded a little hoarse. His wheels began to turn, and he said he would feel better if we would go see an ENT friend of his that also had a "fascination" with facial hemangiomas. I thought that was weird, but he said that sometimes if there is a hemangioma on the face, there is the possibility that they can show up near the vocal cords and he would just like to play it safe and have us see the ENT to get it checked out. Plus it would just be nice to get another opinion on the one on her nose. (This short story isn't so short afterall, huh? Sorry. Ha!) So off we go to see Dr Brown, the ENT who has a "fascination" with facial hemangiomas, remember? The weird guy. He proves to be not so weird. Pretty much the nicest, friendliest, most interested-in-his-patient doctor I have ever met (other than Dr Hammond, of course). He asks me if I have ever heard of Dr Marcelo Hochman. I tell him no, although I learn later than I had through all the research we had done about hemangiomas right when we found out about Scout's. So he tells me that Dr Hochman is "the man" when it comes to these things. And he would be more than happy to refer us to him if we didn't mind the drive...to Charleston.
So, today we went to Charleston. What a great day it was. Scout was great (despite her having a virus..yak!), the weather was great, the ride down was great...and Dr Hochman was great. He told us that surgery is really the only option for her at this point...which we were prepared to hear...and really wanting to hear after all of the other surgeries and the waiting and the watching. He said she's at a great age for it since she hasn't really developed a full-blown self-image yet, and she's several years before she starts to school so there will be time for the scar to heal and be touched-up if need be.
Tonight, when we got home, I typed in the web address for the The Hemangioma Treatment Center. My browser automatically remembered that I had been to that site before...hmmmm. When it came up, I couldn't believe it. We had been to the site many times just gathering information when we were in Williamsburg...so come to find out, it's the same place we visited today. Crazy!! www.hemangiomatreatment.org
www.hemangiomatreatment.com
Also, Hootie and the Blowfish are "Friends of the Foundation"...thought that was neat. Maybe Scout can get a signed copy of "Cracked Rear View"...that cd would definitely be an oldies record to her. HAHA!
Surgery is scheduled for Dec 14 at 6:30am. Please be praying that Scout will be protected and come through the surgery with no complications and that the healing process will be smooth. Pray for Dr Hochman and the staff. And pray for Scout's family that we won't waste time worrying about something that our Father has complete control over.
