Today Wes and I took Avery to Houston to see a specialist in pediatric dermatology. She was born with a hemangioma (abnormal build up of blood vessels in the skin) on her upper chest and we wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing by doing nothing. We were told early on by several different pediatricians that this was fairly common and would most likely go away by the age of 7.... the blood vessels will break down, the redness will go away, and the skin will flatten. Most likely she will always have some kind of scarring, but it could be minimal with todays cosmetic procedures. There are some procedures that can be done to remove it, but they are fairly aggressive and not recommended for someone so young, especially since she has so much growing left to do. Avery's hemangioma - her "angel kiss" - is purely cosmetic. It doesn't cause her any pain or bother her. I have seen kids on the playground point at it or ask her what is wrong, but she doesn't seem too phased by it. Our main reason for going to a specialist was to make sure there wasn't something we could be doing to help speed up the breakdown process. I hate for Avery to be 7 and we go to someone and they tell us that if we had been done something a few years back, she would have seen quicker results.
The doctor pretty much told us what we had already heard and was not in favor of any aggressive action. She gave us a prescription for a steroid bandage to put on the hemangioma for 2 week intervals and this may or may not at least flatten the area a bit. The big thing that sticks out in my mind was the fact that the doctor said that in dealing with hemangiomas there have been comparisons between God's work (leaving a hemangioma to clear on it's own) and doctor's work (medical intervention) and there has not been a big difference in the final results. For now we are going to leave it in God's hands. If it starts to become an issue when appearance gets to be a big deal for Avery, we may have to rethink our course of action. Again.... we'll leave it to the Man upstairs.
On a side note... our trip reminded Wes and I that Houston is no place for us. I lived there for 3 1/2 years while attending college and it was good to me then, but no place for me to be at this point in my life. I no longer have the patience for traffic. Why oh why does it take 56 minutes to get from the Beltway to 610 on a Tuesday morning at 9:15am!?!? We're talking 10 miles..... The trip there took 2hours 20 minutes. The trip home 1 hour 45 minutes and that includes the time we stopped to eat. Speaking of.... we go to Houston and pass just about every chain restaurant and fast food spot you can think of.... where do we eat.. McDonalds. It was Avery's choice. She wanted to slide on the slide. I was hoping for Panera Bread or Chick Fil A, maybe Pappasitos, but I was overruled by a 2 year old. Unfortunetly I'm used to it :-)
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