Surgery #2 for Madeline

Madeline has been monitored by her birthmark Dr., Dr. Waner, for the past few months for some spots that have showed up on her leg.  They started to show up at around 8 weeks old and have continued to pop up over the past year.  Some are darker and some are lighter.  They start at the knee and go all the way down her leg, her ankle, and onto the bottom of her foot.  Here are some not so great photos (its hard to get her to sit still!)

Dr. Waner is not really sure what is causing them, but for now is considering it a venous malformation of the leg.    He decided he wanted to try laser surgery to see how the marks would respond.  Curtis and I were unsure of what to do.  Treat now or wait it out?  I wish I could predict the future and know if this was going to bother her in her teenage years.  The marks are growing with her, which means they will cover a large portion of her leg as an adult.  We ultimately decided to do the surgery for several reasons.   First, the younger skin responds better to the laser treatment.  Second, we wanted to treat it before it became an issue for her socially.  Last, and the biggest, is that we won't always live here and have access to Dr. Waner.  I trust him 100% and would only want him treating her. 

Here are some pics of her surgery on Friday.  We had to wait a long time so I was so glad the hospital clown showed up for a while.  He entertained them for a good 20 minutes!

Here she is with daddy ready to go in.  Her surgery was delayed so we were all happy when it was finally time!

Here is the after.  It looks pretty bad but it doesn't hurt her.  I guess I didn't realize how many spots she actually had until they were all darkened from the laser.  The Dr. wants to see her back in 3 months but said her skin responded very well and hopefully she won't need a second treatment.   I will post an update on her leg in a few weeks to show the fading! 

One year Post op! Goodbye Hemangioma!

One year ago today, Madeline had the hemangioma on her head removed.  I can't believe its been that long!  We are so glad we made the decision to have it removed.  After a full year you would never know she ever had anything there. Her hair completely covers her scar and her hair line is completely normal.  A big thanks again to Dr. Waner and his staff for doing such a wonderful job!

Here she is a few weeks before surgery. 

  

A close up:

Morning of surgery (she looks so little here!)

Right out of surgery:

One week post op:

3 months post op:

7 months post op:

Here she is today!  (Excuse the messy shirt!).

Picnic in NYC

Last Sunday (yes I am a week behind) we went to a picnic/fundraiser for Madeline's Dr. Dr. Waner has a foundation that raises money for his patients that cannot afford treatment. All of his former patients were invited. It was at a park right across the street from Beth Israel Hospital, where Madeline had her surgery.

It was so fun! Everything was catered perfectly to the kids and they had the best time!

First stop was the balloon animals. These guys were good. When they whipped up Brooke's balloon I almost fell over.

Brooke requested Ariel. You can't see but she even had a purple bikini top on!

Madeline got a dog and immediately tried to eat it. Safety hazard to the max!


Then Brooke got her face painted:


Madeline was obsessed with the balloons they had everywhere. She has a pretty nice obsession going on with balloons lately. She spent the entire day like this:
Here is a video of the pure joy and frustration they caused:


They also had caricature artists there and they were awesome! Here is the one of my kids and I think its really good!


By the days end we were ready to go. Brooke had won 2 fabulous rings and also got a snow cone. You can see that Madeline was not thrilled that she did not get her own snow cone. Brooke has become immune to the pinching.


It was an awesome day and we hope they raised lots of money for the foundation! If you'd like to read more about Dr. Waners Foundation, click HERE. We will definitely attend next year if we are still here!

Hemangioma Update! 6 Months Post Op!

I can't believe it has already been 6 months since Madeline had her hemangioma removed! I must say I have zero regrets in having the surgery done. You can't even tell she ever had anything on the top of her head.

Hemangioma's are still dealt with mainly with the "wait and see" approach. Many are not aware that there are doctors who deal with these in terms of drug therapy, laser therapy, and surgery. We were very fortunate to know someone with a hemangioma that was currently being treated and they helped steer us in the right direction in terms of helping Madeline. Her friend Sarah from ballet class was born with a severe hemangioma covering a large portion of her face. She had been in treatment since she was an infant. Her mom, Kim, is the one who told us about Dr. Waner in NYC. Luckily we were moving to NY so meeting with him would be an easy task. We met with him in mid July and were told of our options. 1. Do nothing (not an option for her), 2. Drug therapy (also not the best option as her type of hemangioma did not do super well on drug therapy), or 3. Surgery.

Dr. Waner informed us that Madeline's hemangioma would probably not go away until she was well into grade school (around 9 years old). It could also cause saggy skin to be left behind and lack of hair growth. The decision for surgery was our best option. Although this decision is somewhat controversial with most doctors, waiting to see how much bigger it would get was not an option. It still had the chance to grow up to 50% more than it already was in size, and her hair was not going to cover it. Her hemangioma was removed when she was 4.5 months old on Sept. 8, 2010. We had a follow up appointment in November. They said her scar was healing well and they want us to come back in May to check it one more time as her hair grows in.

Here she is in preop:


Here she is after surgery (got her drainage tube out this day):


Here she is today! It healed beautifully and we could not be happier!





If you would like to check out Brooke's friend Sarah's hemangioma journey, click HERE. Her parents informing me a of Dr. Waner at the Vascular Birthmark Institute helped speed along our treatment process.