Our Madelyn - always keeping us on our toes

I'll try to make this as short and simple as I can. Mady's ultrasound confirmed that she does have hemangiomas on her liver. She has 4. One is "sizeable" as the dermatologist worded it. The ultrasound was really hard for me because the tech would tell me nothing, but I saw the count on her monitor go up to 54 pictures, and I knew something wasn't right. Then, she said she had to step out to grab a doctor and my heart was racing. The doctor there didn't feel anything was an emergency and that they would probably want us to get an angiogram scheduled after the results were sent to the pediatrician and dermatologist.

The next morning, the dermatologist called me and said she didn't want to be an alarmist BUT they were scheduling to get us in ASAP for a CTA (CT angiography) at Children's. I had to shower get both girls ready to go, drop Emma at my parents and be at Children's within the hour. The dermatoligist said she hasn't in her 20 years as a doctor, ever seen liver hemangiomas in a child with less than 5 on their skin. She was shocked. The test was done to check her blood flow and to see exactly what we're dealing with. I also asked her about these internal hemangiomas being in other locations. From what I've read, they can be on the GI tract, the brain and the lungs. She said we would deal with the liver first, and that the GI doctor that she was referring us to would most likley test the GI tract via bloodwork and stool sample. She said the lungs are a very low percentage. However, all of this stuff is a very small percentage and Mady is hitting all of it! So, we're going to push for more testing even though we hate to have her go through more.

The CTA was not too bad. She cried when they put in the IV and then again when they put the contrast through the IV. Afterwards, she was handing out smiles left and right. We know nothing yet. We should at least have some preliminary results on Monday.

What does this all mean? Well, from the information I've gathered via quick conversations with the doctors and the internet, it could be something they just keep an eye on OR it could mean she has to start steroid treatment OR it could mean surgery to remove the spots from her liver. Nevertheless, it's very stressful and upsetting for us. The dermatologist was able to get me an appt with the GI doctor for this Wednesday, which means more hours missed at work, but Mady has to come first.