DS 7yrs. old needs surgery :( (update)

[JessicaCoen]

Where to begin.....
DS Phillip who is 7 years old was born with a big birthmark (poor guy) well when he was a baby we took him to the Dermatologist he told me that it would fade over the course of about 5 years. It never faded! Well when I took him to his pedi last month for a check up we talked about DS being embarassed, and what not. So she gives us a referall for a different dermatologist. We went yesterday. Come to find out that the birthmark is the reason for the size difference of his ears. I always thought that, but doc. didn't seem concerned so i didn't think i should be either. Well during the derm. visit she said that the ear was going to continue to grow at a different rate because of this. So if we didn't do something about it it would just get worse over time! ugh....:frown:. So we decided to go forth with the laser surgery. He will be put to sleep for the surgery which makes me nervous. I just feel so bad for him having to go through this, but yet i'm excited for him at the same time because I know that it should help boost his self esteem. Derm. said that he will have to have at least 6+ surgeries because the ear is really resistant to the surgery. anyway he should be having it done next month. I've included 2 pic's so you all would know what i'm talking about . These are about a year old. he doesn't let me take many pic's from that angle. the first is to show the size of the birthmark (it also goes way up into the hair and behind the ear). the 2nd is to show the sz. difference in ears.

almost forgot, but he has had some hearing loss and they believe that this might be the reason. (still not 100% sure on that right this second. he has to go to the hearing specialist on the 29th




Thanks to everyone for your kind words and prayers. The doctor called us yesterday and we have the first surgery schedualed for October 16th. He has to be at the hospital 2 hours before surgery so poor fella is gonna have to get up at 5 am. :hectic1:

[emotley]

He is a cutie! I hope the surgery turns out to be a great sucess! Good Luck to ya and I will be praying for your little boy!

[JessicaCoen]

Thank You!

[JANE4girls]

aww cute kiddo...I want a boy, lol. will they remove the entire birth mark, or just on his ear? will he have to have reconstructive on his ear also?

[MariaT]

Awww poor thing! Good thing you followed through and kept up with your instinct. My son's speech is really delayed as a result of a minor birth defect in his mouth. Same thing with me - pedi kept telling me not to worry about it he would learn to talk, etc. Luckily someone told me to get to a oral surgeon fast and get the surgery done. He's improving but I know what you mean about having to get surgery done. It's scary for any adult nevermind a lil kid. good luck to you both!!

[JessicaCoen]

aww cute kiddo...I want a boy, lol. will they remove the entire birth mark, or just on his ear? will he have to have reconstructive on his ear also?

ok, i'll trade you some boy's for coupons...lol (how many q's can i get for 2 boys (7 &3)?

So far they are going to try to take as much as the birthmark off as possble. They can't go inside the ear (canal) with the laser, so that part will have to stay for a while. We haven't talked about reconstruction surgery yet, but i'm sure that will be the next thing they throw out after the laser surgeries are finished.

[lalanpnut]

Aww good luck with the surgery, he is a cute one!!

[thorrocks1]

ADORABLE!!! I think the hardest thing when your child has a surgical procedure is that you don't have any control. I'm sure the doctor has done many of these procedures and all will be fine!
Good luck .. keep us posted ..

[puakinikini]

Good luck to you and your son. My cousin had a similar-looking birthmark that went over her eye (her whole eye lid) - she had her first surgery as an infant and many more followed. Now if you did not see her infant pictures, you would not even know that she ever had a birth mark.

[billig]

He's so flippin cute!!!
I know it breaks your heart but kids get through surgerys really fast...he'll heal up quickly.

Ya know, the top picture looks like his ear has the deformity, but the bottom picture his ear looks perfectly normal to me. Is it just the angle of the picture or is one picture a progression of the problem?

Good luck!