Great News-SoSo News

First, the good news......HIS AIRWAY LOOKS GREAT!!!!!!!! No more hemangioma in the airway and the reconstruction was successful.

The SoSo news is a two parter. (1.) To cut out the hemangioma during the last surgery Dr. Woolley had to split the vocal chords. This is pretty risky because they rarely heal perfectly. It had to be done though, the hemangioma was all over the vocal chords. The ideal position for the vocal chords to heal is a 'V' shape. Because of scar tissue from the surgery, Bryce's vocal chords more resemble a 'U' or Dr. Woolley used the word webbing. This might cause hoarseness or raspiness in his voice and if it gets any worse (which is NOT expected) it could interfere with his breathing. Dr. Woolley thinks that 3 months post surgery all the scarring has pretty much happened and it shouldn't get any worse. There are surgeries to fix this if that needs to be done down the road. I won't even get into that though (not fun). I'll just say his voice will have to be pretty bad for us to go through it. (2.) It appears the hemangioma on his lip is not involuting. At 12 months of age most show signs of involution. The one by his ear has these signs, but not the one on his lip that is much more prominent. We have the # to the pediatric dermatologist at Children's and I will be calling her this week to set up an appointment. Dr. Woolley said he thinks the redness around the lip (not the bulky part on his actual lip) will need to be lasered. It is like tattoo removal I think. (Not exactly sure, but that is all I can liken it to right now). This dermatologist would do this in the OR with general anesthesia. He thinks maybe in the next couple of months. I've got research to do! Dr. Woolley is going to send some pictures of Bryce's lip to Dr. Milton Waner. (Anyone familiar with hemangiomas knows of this very respected Dr. in the Vascular Birthmark world) He wants to get his opinions on excision of the bulky part of the lower lip hemangioma. When to do it, how to do it, all that. Dr. Woolley would actually perform this surgery :) He is going to a Vascular Birthmark Conference next month, I wonder if he will talk about Bryce and the 12 procedures he has performed on him this last year?

So all in all, a great day. I knew we would have to address the lip soon, that it should be showing involution signs and isn't so that wasn't a surprise. The vocal chords not healing perfectly was expected and a little raspiness will be cute and give him character!

Thank you for all of your prayers. They have been answered!!!!!!