Thursday, May 21, 2009

Medical Update

On Thursday, May 14, we took Lily out to The Children's Hospital in Denver for her MRI. She is truly a little trooper! The MRI itself was not a wonderful experience. Lily was "supposed" to take a bottle and then sleep through her MRI--well, she wasn't very sleepy :) Luckily for us, the MRI tech had another patient after Lily, and allowed us to try again afterwards. About 5 minutes before he came back (it was around 10:00 PM) she finally crashed out and, to our amazement, slept through the 25 minute test!! It was the nosiest machine...only a baby could sleep through something like that!

We had our consult with the neurosurgeon the next day. He has determined that what we thought was a cyst, isn't. The MRI showed that her bump is actually a solid mass, so he believes that she most likely (although he can't be 100% positive) has a deep tissue or cavernous hemangioma. Essentially, this is a tumor that affects the blood vessels, which explains why her bump has been changing colors and growing so rapidly. Most hemangiomas are outside the skin and look strawberry colored--these don't typically require surgery. However, because her's is deep and located near the eye--and growing so quickly--the neurosurgeon recommended that we do surgery as soon as possible. He has assured us that it is not a "major" surgery, since the hemangioma does not go through the skull into the brain, and the biggest risk is bleeding, so they will have a pint of blood on hand in case she needs a transfusion. A plastic surgeon will assist in the surgery and assures us that scarring will be minimal, so we are hoping for the best. For those of you who would like to read more, here is a link: http://www.birthmark.org/hemangiomas.php

Her surgery is scheduled for 7:30 am on May 28th. Keep her in your thoughts...

2 comments:

The Schaefers Go To Hawaii said...

My thoughts are with you and your little girl! Stay brave for her, mama!

--Natalie

Anonymous said...

My thoughts and prayers are with you Erica and your little lily. Be strong. God bless. Lydia