A Medical Misadventure

As I am sure many of you have noticed, Iris has a large hemangioma behind her left ear.  For the most part, hemangiomas are harmless and most will go away on their own.  But, the placement and size of the one behind Iris's ear has started to push the cartilage of her ear forward.  Therefore, at her last well-child check up her doctor recommended that we see a dermatologist about whether or not it will need to be treated to prevent the ear cartilage from deforming.  Also, because of its size, there is a chance that it could interfere with her inner ear as well.

So, twice now, we have packed her up to go see a dermatologist locally.  The first time was a truly terrible experience.  Jesse took half a day off of work to come to the appointment.  I was unable to find child-care for Eli and Esme, so we all went together.  We waited for a very long 15 minutes in the waiting room, with both babies fussing and Eli running from one end of the waiting room to the other.  Finally, we were called into an impossibly small exam room with all five of us plus the double stroller.  We were scheduled with a dermatology nurse practitioner who came into the room, talked with us very fast, took a picture and then told us that we were mis-scheduled (despite the fact that Iris's doctor made it very clear her age and issue) and needed to come back to meet with a different doctor because he was not that familiar with hemangiomas OR with infants.  Despite this, we were still charged our co-pay.  We rescheduled.

Yesterday we had our second appointment.  This time, Eli was at his summer play-school so it was a little easier.  But we were still crammed into a very small exam room with the double stroller.  We were told that we would be meeting with a doctor who knew what to tell us.  So, this doctor came into the room, and looked Iris over, told us various treatment options, none of which sound all that appealing, and then told us that she is not an expert in these things so she is going to refer us to a specialist in Boston.  We should know on Monday when our appointment is.

So, we will be taking Iris down to Boston to meet with a pediatric dermatologist who will, in theory at least, know what he or she is looking at and whether or not we really need to treat it.  Besides the large hemangioma she has behind her ear, she has a much smaller one on her forehead and two very small ones on her chest.  She also has a soft bump on the back of her head, which the dermatologist said may be a deeper one under the skin.  Therefore, she is likely to have imaging done to ensure that there is not anything going on internally that we should be concerned about.

All of this has my anxiety up just a little bit.  I am trying not to get to crazy about it, but it is nerve racking to have to take one of your children out of state to see a specialist.  But, despite her little bumps and red spots, Miss Iris is still one of the cutest babies I have ever known.  She has truly captured my heart!