10 days post-op

Elliot trying out a banana at 10 days post-op. Just a few spots left. :) Will update again tomorrow!

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Day 8 post treatment

Spots are looking much lighter, and many have faded almost completely. And Elliot's cold is getting better...yay!

**BTW, Elliot is not always in his carseat. I just find it's the easiest to get a decent picture when he can't squirm all over. Hahah!**

One week post-op

Today marks one week post laser treatment. Two of the dark spots have started to scab, I'm praying that they don't scar. The rest is looking great, but it's really hard to tell if any of the stain is gone because it's still healing. Here's a pic from today...he was trying to feed himself. :)

Picture updates :)

This week has been a long week due to a chest cold running through our house. Here are some pics of the last few days. The spots are getting noticeably lighter. =)

Monday-3 days post-op

Tuesday-4 days post op

Thursday- 6 days post op.

The only discomfort Elliot has felt through this was the first 2 days of swelling, and barely even then. Everything is below the surface so you can't feel anything when you touch it. I kiss his cheek 100x each day like always and never even a flinch. Now if this cold would just go away!

2 Days Post Treatment

Elliots swelling has went down about 50% since Friday. He's finally able to see out of his left eye again. Sadly though he has gotten sick on top of all of this. He's been running a fever, has a congested cough, lots of spitting up, and a hoarse cry. I feel awful for him. Even being sick though he's 100% happy go lucky. I really am the luckiest mom in the world. <3

 

Sorry it's a horrible cell phone pic, had to blow it up some. Will try to get a better one later with the Nikon.

Pictures of the "aftermath"

Now for the pictures as promised. It looks awful! You've been warned! However, he is still cute even through all of that craziness! =) I plan on taking a photo each day through this. They say it will look worse before it looks better, and it is much worse today than it was yesterday.

Waiting to be taken back.

Chillen' with Dad before being taken down!

Leaving the U of M

Today, much more swollen.

I have another on my phone I'm going to try to upload.

Cannot wait for the swelling to go down. His new nickname is Bruiser! haha.

First Laser Treatment

Yesterday was Elliot's first laser treatment at the University of Michigan. All of the doctors and nurses were so nice and informative. We started out in Pre-op where they took his vitals and got him in a gown. The doctor and anesthesiologist cam in to talk to us about the procedure beforehand. The only question I had was "how many kids have you put to sleep that haven't woke up." I was relieved to hear the answer was ZERO. That's when I decided that we were finally going through with this. At 2 pm  Emily, the anesthesiologist, took Elliot down to the operating room while Rob and I were moved out to a waiting area. Within 15 minutes the doctor was out to tell me that everything went well and they would be paging us in about 20-30 minutes. About 5 minutes later we were heading down to the recovery room. Elliot had woke up and wanted to nurse. As I'm walking into recovery I thought it was odd that I couldn't hear my baby screaming as he was suppose to be very hungry. The nurse walks me into his room where another nurse was holding Elliot and feeding him a bottle of Similac. After I picked my jaw up off the floor (this was his first formula, he's 100% breastfed) I bit my tongue to play nice. I did find it very rude that they would feed my baby formula without my knowledge. I didn't have it in me to argue though, and he seemed content. :)

At first the swelling was mild, as were the polka dots on his face. I nursed him and snuggled until we were released. By the time we made it home his eye was swollen shut and the dots were taking on more of a purple/black color. Thankfully I had prepared myself for this in the prior weeks thanks to Google. I wasn't fully prepared for the amount of swelling, but I'll deal.

Today Elliot seems pretty happy, basically his normal self. He's smiley and getting used to only seeing out of one eye. I hope the swelling goes down quickly!

I will post pics later of after the procedure. Thanks for following!

Our handsome little man

The Beginning of our Journey

On Aug. 16, 2010 I laid in a hospital bed giving birth to baby #3. We didn't find out the gender so I was anxious to see if we were welcoming a new prince or princess into our family. After hours of labor, the doctor handed me my new little Prince Elliot. I pushed hard to get him out, and he was all shades of red. They weighed him and did the Apgar and he was perfect. He weighed 8 lbs 10 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. He was a bundle of joy. I don't have easy labors, and my body starts to go into shock shortly after birth. I get wrapped up in my own health for a minute and everything else begins to fade. However, I'll never forget my mom in the background asking the nurse what was on his face. The nurse wasn't sure herself, she said either bruising or a "mark." I never noticed anything when I was holding him except how perfect he was. I remember my mom coming over with the baby and telling me that the nurse said it might be a "mark" but it may just be bruising. He was so red I still wasn't 100% sure what they were talking about. I nursed him and snuggled for hours. As the time went on, the redness from delivery started to fade...well everywhere except for the left side of his face. My mom kept assuring me that it was probably just bruising due to the rough delivery we just had and I blew it off again. By that evening it was clear that it wasn't just bruising. It had a prominent outline and a "horseshoe" shape above his eyebrow.

That evening the pediatric nurse came in and took Elliot down for his check up. When she brought him back she confirmed that the "mark" on his face was a Port Wine Stain (which we later found out is hereditary and my mom has one on her side). I was in shock. I had a million questions and no answers. So I pulled out my laptop and started researching this. That was the worst thing I could have done. While it gave me insight to my sons diagnosis, it also instilled a fear that no new mother should have to endure. Apparently Port Wine Stains on the face can be a sign of Sturge-Weber syndrome. SWS is an epileptic disease that can cause siezures, retardation, glaucoma and many other things. On top of that, a PWS left untreated can grow in density causing a host of problems itself. They don't stay flat, they thicken and grow nodules and become a deep purple. I remember sitting on that hospital bed holding my baby boy crying, knowing that I was in for a long road. At the time I didn't think I was strong enough to deal with it. I've found that I'm a lot stronger than I could have ever imagined.

Tomorrow we start Elliot's first laser treatment. They think it will take 6-12 treatments, given every 6-8 weeks. I've been a ball of nerves, mostly because they have to use a general anesthesia in order to do it. So far his glaucoma tests have been good, thank God.