At the beginning of August we had a follow up with the specialist we'd been seeing for Winter's hemangioma. He didn't feel like it was progressing the way we all had hoped and felt the best decision was to surgically remove it. Dillon and I didn't feel great about putting our eight month old under the knife, but we trusted Dr. Cook. At first we all felt it was best to wait until October when Dillon was home but after giving it some thought, we decided the sooner the better. So, on August 22, 2014, Winter went in for surgery. We were so lucky my mom works at the surgery center. We we so well taken care of and Grandma Sheila even got to scrub in and be at Winter's side the entire time! Dr. Cook had her take some pictures of the procedure, if you have a queasy stomach do not continue.
Dr. Cook told me he felt things were pretty simple and it would only take him a few minutes once he got in there. But apparently the growth was much bigger than we expected and it ended up taking over an hour. My mom said it was crazy how many teeny tiny little veins were feeding into it and Dr. Cook was very meticulous to cauterize each one as he went.
Soooo CRAZY, right?!?!
Here is what they actually took out. It was sent to the lab to be sure it wasn't cancerous or anything, which is wasn't.
After, we went to my moms and we were all exhausted. Winter and I took a nap on my moms bed. Apparently I fell asleep first and winter had a good time playing with our name tags before finally settling down herself.
Day two and three after surgery. Things were healing well!
On day ten, we went in to have the sutures removed. Dr. Cook walked into the exam room, took one look at Winter, and asked me if I could go to the surgery center right away. I told him yes and we rushed across the street. I called Dillon on the way. The whole idea of Winter having surgery when he couldn't be with her was very hard for him so I tried my best to keep him as updated and informed as possible, but this time when I called him, I didn't know what to say!!! The doctor seemed calm, but serious. I got to the surgical center and my mom was like what's going on we have her down to have the exact same surgery. I was trying really hard to keep it together. Thank goodness my mom was there! She told me she was sure it wasn't a big deal. She took winter from my arms and carried her back to anesthesia. I sat in the waiting room on the phone with Dillon. We were trying to keep each other calm and what after felt like forever, Dr. Cook came out. He told me there had been some blood pooling underneath the incision and he had to go in and fix it right away.
To this day we're not sure what caused it. He seemed to think Winter had a reaction to the type of suture he used so he used a different kind the next time. It could've been just a tiny blood vessel that was missed. But either way she has healed very well! As you can see, shes been a good sport through the whole ordeal! She will be having a third surgery around Thanksgiving, strictly for cosmetic purposes. Right now she has a pretty serious scar and it being right on her face we feel this is the best decision. Hopefully, we will be done after that. This hasn't even been anything serious and it's stressed me out!!!
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