Preparing for Surgery

I think one of the scariest things to hear as a parent is that something might be wrong with your child. Like…really wrong.  Or even the possibility that something could maybe be wrong…even when it is contrary to what you have seen over the last 12 months.

I have blogged before about Elly’s “birthmark” or her boo-boo as Evie calls it. The plastic surgeon that her pediatrician referred us to was pretty confident that the place was a hemangioma. They are largely harmless and the only potential complication was if it grew and interfered with her eye. After a year of plastic surgery visits and check-ups, the doctor now says it is NOT a hemangioma. Yeah. Frustration.

The doctor said at our last visit that he believes Elly has a vascular abnormality. I don’t suppose it really changes our view on the last 12 months or anything. But it does change our future. Unlike a hemangioma, a vascular abnormality will not fade on its own. So the doctor wants to go ahead and perform several laser treatments.

Also, with vascular abnormalities there is a risk of other complications. The doctor said that with it being so close to her eye, she could have abnormalities inside her eye, putting her at risk for vision issues and glaucoma. He told us to schedule an eye check and said that she may need yearly eye exams for the rest of her life. In addition, there could be vessel clumps on Elly’s brain. These abnormalities could cause seizures, learning problems and developmental issues.

Insert heart stopping terror here.

Yeah.

The doctor added that the brain abnormalities were very rare and the fact that Elly hasn’t had any complications, either in the form of delays or seizures, by her age then she probably doesn’t have any problems.

To be safe, we do have an appointment with a pediatric ophthalmologist. Try to say that three times fast. It’s at the end of May. In the meantime, we get to prepare ourselves for Elly’s “surgery.” She will be undergoing three laser treatments on the abnormality on her face. The treatments will be about 6 weeks apart. So May, June and July. Hopefully by Evie’s third birthday Sissy will be all done and no more big boo-boo on her face.

On May 3, we find out what time we need to be at Baptist hospital.

And on Friday, May 4, we take Elly to Baptist, hand her over to the anesthesiologists and sit in a waiting room to pray.

The surgeon said that the whole procedure will probably only take an hour. The actual laser treatment will only take about 10 minutes.  But Elly will have to be put under for it. Which scares me to death, just to be honest. He said the laser won’t cause any blistering, so there won’t be any bandaging to deal with or anything. Hopefully pain will be minimal to non-existent.

I’m a little aggravated with the doctor for not having told me a year ago that the mark might have been something far worse than a hemangioma. Although the doctor said that even if there had been complications like a vascular abnormality on Elly’s brain, the only thing we could do would be medicate her to treat her symptoms. Meds to prevent seizures, therapy for delays, etc. And me knowing that her birthmark might have caused other problems would have just lead to wasteful fretting and worrying. Probably for nothing. So I suppose it truly worked out for the best how it has.

All in all, I’m trying not to worry about it. I’m hoping and praying and giving her lots of extra kisses. It’s a huge challenge to not worry. Especially for ME. Your prayers over the next few months will be really appreciated.