Hospital Stay...

Hello!

Health update on Ivy- we went to the opthalmologist on Monday for our follow up after the MRI. He could easily tell that her 'tumor' (that's what they call it and it makes me ill) has grown significantly in the week since he saw her. Because of proximity to her eye and the risk of vision loss/blindness in that eye- he wanted us to start treating it soon. They called dermatology and got us a same day visit (that's how rushed it was- this is the same dermatology unit that was booked for new patients for the rest of 2011).
We went to dermatology and they went over the treatment options. We learned hemangiomas are the most common childhood tumor and are generally not treated because they grow up until the child is about a year, then start to gradually disappear- no further complications or effects. However because of the placement she needs to be treated. Treatment options include surgery, steroid shots, and "the new sexy treatment, propanolol" (yes that is a quote from the dr.).
Propanolol is a beta blocker used for kids with blood pressure issues, and it accidentally was discovered to help hemangiomas- which are a mass of blood vessels and capillaries- stop growing and even helps shrink them. The physiology isn't understood- but the results are inarguable- they told me that they are 110/110 success in patients they have treated with this. So this is a great option and the route we are going.
Potential side effects are low blood pressure, drop in heart rate, and low blood sugar. Because of these effects Ivy has to be admitted to the hospital for 3 nights while they start treatment. She will have a full EKG to make sure her vascular system is functioning perfectly before being given the drug. Then, she will be given meds 3x/day- day 1 25% dose, day 2 50% dose, day 3 100% dose. They will check her blood pressure, blood sugar, heart rate, etc after each dose.
So long as she tolerates it- and there is no reason to expect she won't- then we get to bring her home and she will stay on the meds until she is 1. The reason is even if the initial treatment shrinks the hemangioma, because they grow for the first year of life, if we stop the meds, it will just grow back. We will have to go to the derm monthly to make sure everything is functioning as it should and to check dosing adjustments based on her weight.
We go to chop this Friday at 10am, and should be checking out Monday at 10am.
Wish us luck!

On another note- Ivy turns 3 months old on Monday and I never posted a 2month post between Easter and this hemangioma stuff.
Here she is in all her glory- you will see her looking bigger in her 3 month pics next week!





At 2 months there is not too much to say about what she is up to.
She is doing great with her head, smiles all the time- seriously all.the.time and we love it, and is still sleeping like garbage. The longest she will go at a time is 4 hrs and that is a great, rare, night.

And Happy Mothers Day! I apologize to the moms in our life if we were neglectful in celebrating you, this has been the craziest few weeks with the health scares and we love you. I am best friends with my mom and can only hope that I can have the same sort of relationship with my kids when they are older.
We had a wonderful day- the boys made me breakfast, we went to the playground, had a nice nap in the afternoon, went out to dinner at the local Greek place and ended the night with ice cream. I was also spoiled in a beautiful piece of jewelry with Ivy's birthstone from Eric (matches the one he got me with B's birthstone 2 yrs ago) and tickets to Glee from the kids!

Pictures from the day: