A splash about Christian, a pinch about hemangiomas & a dash of Ariana

Though she likes to call herself the "big sister"- the truth is Ariana isn't really that much bigger than her little brother who's 3 years younger. The "baby" of our family is quite a big boy! I think his head might actually be bigger than his sisters and at his 9 month check up today, I found out that they also weigh nearly the same.

The other thing I found out at the Dr. today was that they have a new experimental drug they are using for hemangiomas. I actually did not find this out at his Dr. appointment- I found it out at my Dr. appointment that Christian and I attended just before his. We had back to back appointments this afternoon- different Dr.'s, different clinics, different streets-  within a mile of each other and timed one right after the other. Not bad!

First stop was the dermatologist for me where she proceeded to biopsy 2 spots of possible basal cell carcinoma. I won't hear until next week, but I'm not too worried about it as basal cell is not as serious as something like melanoma. As a matter of fact, I was told today that at some point, every single person will develop basal cell if they live long enough!

Anyway, the first thing the dermatologist said was, "I know you're not here for Christian," but I want to mention to you a new cutting edge treatment they are using for hemangiomas using topical Timolel. I already knew that using Beta blockers (strong drugs traditionally used for treating heart problems) has an amazing effect in shrinking infantile hemangiomas. Totally unrelated - but something they discovered by chance a couple years ago. However, what I didn't know was that now they are using a topical beta blocker - (the topical Timolel she referred to)-  given topically through an eyedropper to treat superficial hemangiomas (like Christian has- the kind that does not go deep into the skin) with huge success, without the systemic (and possibly scary side effects) of oral beta blockers.

So, back to the dermatologist. She told me to call Christian's Dr. (he's treated by a specialist in town) because she actually knows him (it's amazing to me how many Dr.'s - who practice completely different specialties- know each other!) and to relay the message and see if he wants to explore that route.

Now, I'm not exactly sure if I want to explore that route- considering that it's experimental and all- but I was intrigued enough to at least leave a message for Christian's Dr. to call me to discuss. So, we'll see what his thoughts are and go from there.

I know it may seem strange to others, but in all honesty, his hemangioma is something we don't even notice. I think what will actually seem strange to us is when someday his hemangioma has completely disappeared. Though, I realize it won't happen overnight- but gradually over the years.

Though Christian has something different than many other kids - we don't see his "flaws" when we look at him. We only see him. And that which makes him different, also makes him... well, HIM, in our eyes. The absolute ONLY reason that I would even consider speeding up the process of shrinking his hemangioma is so that, for his sake, he is not left with too much scarring or repair work needing to be done to the skin on his nose. The whole reason they even suggest shrinking it faster (as opposed to letting it go away on his own) through the surgeries and possible meds is because the skin on the nose is so thin and not very forgiving and doesn't leave a whole lot of "wiggle room" for something like plastic surgery. OK, I'd better stop typing now... visions of Michael Jackson's nose are now dancing around in my head and I'm scaring myself.

Another (much more fun way) that he's different is that he seems to be pretty advanced with his motor skills. He is a fire cracker! So fast!! He's racing up stairs, standing now- on his own- and starting to walk with a walker. When he's not practicing those new moves he's ripping around the carpet. I happened to have my camera close by the other day when Mike was trying to work out in the living room. In between push ups he found a little visitor smack dab underneath him!

And while his little "assistant" was not very effective in assisting him in push-ups, he was extremely effective in making his Daddy smile.

And last but not least, I had to include pictures of what I witnessed to be both very funny and very reassuring. If you remember from about a year ago- with the trouble we had with Ariana eating (or not eating I should say), you'd understand why.

But for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about... Ariana went through a period of about a year and a half where she lost interest in eating. She gained no weight and it was a huge, major deal around here. LONG story short, things turned around and for the last year she's been an eating machine. She'll eat any and everything we put in front of her and she asks for food all day long. Though normally I would find that annoying, coming from her it's music to my ears.

On this particular morning, she woke up with a hunkering for eggs and oatmeal. So eggs AND oatmeal she got. She decided to put them next to each other and apparently couldn't decide which looked better so she asked for 2 utensils and ate both... at the same time.

Ahhhh. Life is good.