Since I got a shot on here the other day of Mady and her bare butt, I figured I'd get one up of Emma as well. :) Notice her eyes are now more of a hazel color. Mady's are still blue!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Emma's Nekked Baby Photo
Since I got a shot on here the other day of Mady and her bare butt, I figured I'd get one up of Emma as well. :) Notice her eyes are now more of a hazel color. Mady's are still blue!
Monday, March 9, 2009
A day at the park.
We had 3 great days here in Pittsburgh and I was able to take the girls out for a walk 3 days in a row! Saturday we took them to the park in our neighborhood. They loved it!
Earlier in the day, daddy brought their high chairs into the kitchen and taught them how to make french toast and gave them some lovely coffee filter hats.
What an exhausting day!
6 month checkup and plastic surgery visit.
The girls had their 6 month checkup on Thursday. Doc is very happy with their progress. Emma is in the 5th percentile for her height/weight, and Madelyn is in the 25th. She wants us to up their solids to 3 times a day starting in April and then start proteins in May. It was, thankfully, a pretty uneventful visit. She talked about possibly getting a head scan of Madelyn for fear of any other internal hemangiomas. She said her hemoglobin was right on the border, so she may want that re-checked in a month.
Madelyn and I went to see the plastic surgeon on Friday in regards to possibly removing her hemangioma on her shoulder. He does not want to remove it :( He said the base is far to wide. He suggested another ointment to put on. I was not very happy with this doctor. He laughed when I mentioned that Mady has a developmentalist without even knowing her history. He also spotted a flat spot on her head and told me the developmentalist is wrong about what side she favors. I got home and really thought about it and she IS in fact, right and he is wrong. He wanted me to go back in 2 weeks, but I called our pediatrician because I didn't want to see him again and had no idea whose instructions I was to follow regarding the treatment of that hemangioma. I was also worried abou the flat spot.
Doc says not to worry too much about the flat spot, but do try to do more tummy time, less time resting on her head, if possible. She wants me to talk to dermatology about her shoulder hemangioma... she feels they are more qualified. She also said she woke up in the middle of the night thinking about Mady and her heart is telling her that we need to get an MRA of her head done to make sure there are no more hemangiomas. I hate to take her for another test, but am all for being proactive.
This is a picture of her hemangioma. You can see the area that is ulcerated. It really does hurt her and gets in the way :(
Madelyn and I went to see the plastic surgeon on Friday in regards to possibly removing her hemangioma on her shoulder. He does not want to remove it :( He said the base is far to wide. He suggested another ointment to put on. I was not very happy with this doctor. He laughed when I mentioned that Mady has a developmentalist without even knowing her history. He also spotted a flat spot on her head and told me the developmentalist is wrong about what side she favors. I got home and really thought about it and she IS in fact, right and he is wrong. He wanted me to go back in 2 weeks, but I called our pediatrician because I didn't want to see him again and had no idea whose instructions I was to follow regarding the treatment of that hemangioma. I was also worried abou the flat spot.
Doc says not to worry too much about the flat spot, but do try to do more tummy time, less time resting on her head, if possible. She wants me to talk to dermatology about her shoulder hemangioma... she feels they are more qualified. She also said she woke up in the middle of the night thinking about Mady and her heart is telling her that we need to get an MRA of her head done to make sure there are no more hemangiomas. I hate to take her for another test, but am all for being proactive.
This is a picture of her hemangioma. You can see the area that is ulcerated. It really does hurt her and gets in the way :(
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Good News
We took Madelyn to the liver doctor at Children's today. We feel pretty good after this appointment. He says he doesn't necessarily classify her hemangiomas as very large, so at this point, he's just wanting to keep an eye on them. There are slight risks to all treatments. He ordered some additional blood work to make sure that they are indeed benign tumors (they call all hemangiomas tumors). I thought we already knew this, but apparently not. He's also testing her thyroid. Hypothyroid is fairly common with hepatic hemangiomas. He's hopeful that they are the largest that they will be and that they will receed and calcify and will not cause her any issues. We were told to have the pediatrician check her liver at her appointments and we are to keep an eye out for symptoms of her heart working to hard. Sweating, shortness of breath and decrease in eating are all signs to look for. If we notice these, he wants us to follow up with the pediatrician.
He said her scan was a full abdominal scan and they did not see any hemangiomas in any other locations. I'm going to inquire with our pediatrician about the possibility of any of these being anywhere outside of the abdominal area, such as the brain. We know she has those two cysts on her brain from an MRI she had at 2 months. My question is whether those could be hemangiomas or not.
All in all, good news. Next on the schedule is her plastic surgeon appt on Friday for the ulcerated hemangioma on her shoulder. She is such a trooper through all of this!
He said her scan was a full abdominal scan and they did not see any hemangiomas in any other locations. I'm going to inquire with our pediatrician about the possibility of any of these being anywhere outside of the abdominal area, such as the brain. We know she has those two cysts on her brain from an MRI she had at 2 months. My question is whether those could be hemangiomas or not.
All in all, good news. Next on the schedule is her plastic surgeon appt on Friday for the ulcerated hemangioma on her shoulder. She is such a trooper through all of this!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
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.
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.
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