My Strong Little Boy

So yesterday was a big day for us all. It was Jaxon's first laser treatment. I was so full of nerves making the hour drive into San Diego where the hospital was located. I was prepared to cry my eyes out as we left him with the dermatologist, so I didn't wear any mascara because Lord knows I wouldn't need anymore help looking like a basket case while my son was getting laser treatment and there were other kids there getting ready for major surgery.

We were supposed to arrive an hour early to fill out paperwork and such. The children's hospital was beautiful and really catered to kids. The nurse took Jaxon back to get his height,weight, blood pressure and oxygen levels. Our big boy weighed 15.1 lbs with clothes on! He was also 25 inches long. While I held Jaxon the nurse put the blood pressure cuff on him and an oxygen sensor on his finger. She distracted him with some bubbles; which he was amazed by!! (I thought that was a neat way to keep his mind off of things.) We then took Jax back into a little waiting area where he was able to eat a little bit then he was given Tylenol. (For any parents struggling to get their kids to swallow a medicine, just blow in their face. It worked like a charm for Jaxon.) The dermatologist came and asked us if we had any questions and I told her that Jaxon's hemangioma was starting to change colors in the middle. She said that could either be a really good sign or bad sign. It was either 1) Starting to involute/ stop growing and begin it's slow process of shrinking or 2) It was going to break open and ulcerate. She was glad that I pointed it out and told me that she wasn't going to laser that portion of the hemangioma because in rare cases it does cause it to break open and bleed. After answering our questions she took Jaxon and we were led to a small closed off room with coffee available. After my first small cup I hear a baby crying and ask Jake if he thought it sounded like Jaxon. Turns out it was! He was gone from our sites for literally less than 5 minutes! I didn't even cry so I was so proud of myself! Jaxon stopped crying as soon as he saw us and the dermatologist said he did a great job. She applied a numbing cream before the laser and then applied some Aquaphor afterwards. We already had a follow up appointment set up with her on April 10 and she said we'll do a second round of laser in about a month. We are supposed to really watch his lip and if it does ulcerate and bleed then we're supposed to call her office immediately and we would put him on the oral Propanolol instead of laser as his form of treatment.

As far as recovery, Jaxon did great! It was a little red and swollen for a couple hours but he was able to nurse as soon as we got home. He never acted like it bothered him. He is one tough little boy!! And last night I realized the discoloration in the middle of his lip had gotten much bigger, so I'm not sure if that's a good or bad sign. I guess I'll find out at our follow up appointment. Little man was so tired that he slept from 8:45pm- 4:30, he nursed for 10 minutes then was back asleep until 8:30am!! He usually wakes up in the middle of the night between 2-3 am and then every hour and a half to two hours after that. I had to check on him a couple of times to make sure he was still breathing because it was out of the norm for him. When he woke up he was all smiles as usual and still is eating well and not in pain from what I can tell.

Here are some pictures of Jaxon before and after his laser treatment:

A week or so before laser, you can see its starting to discolor.

A couple hours after laser:

Morning after laser:

I'll update you guys if anything new happens!

Love,
Mommy, Daddy and Jaxon