The Courage of a 3-Week Old

What a few days we have had!  Here is a quick overview:

Over the weekend, two separate doctors referred us to a Dr. Grimmer at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City.  He is a pediatric otolaryngologist and the director of the Vascular Anomalies Center which treats vascular birthmarks.  I called on Monday morning and we were scheduled for Tuesday morning.  At our appointment on Tuesday, Dr. Grimmer confirmed that Baker has several large hemangiomas on his head and neck and based on the pattern of them, he is confident that there are some in his airway as well.  He wanted to test Baker for PHACES Syndrome (pretty daunting if you look it up) and start him on medication as soon as possible.

So, we were admitted to Primary Children's Hospital a couple of hours later. Yesterday he had an MRI, Echocardiogram, and was examined by pediatric opthamologists, pediatric ENT doctors, pediatric dermatologists, and pediatric cardiologists.  To make a very long story (and longer day) short, all testing for PHACES was negative and we started medication last night!  This medication is Propranolol and babies this young must be admitted to the hospital to start it because it lowers blood pressure and blood sugar and the doctors want to monitor those things to make sure Baker's little body can manage all of it. So far, we are two doses in and he is a champ!  This medicine has a great success rate and will typically stop growth of the tumors and even start the shrinking process sooner.

I've been holding up pretty well through most of this!  However, yesterday when I was holding Baker while the anesthesiologist administered his anesthesia for his testing, I had a moment of weakness.  I wasn't expecting it, but I had a hard time watching my 24-day-old baby fall asleep and have to go back to our little room to wait for him.  Luckily, he has been the strong one this entire time.  It's amazing to me that such a small baby can have such courage.  But, through the IV's, the procedures, the beeping machines, and the gross medicine, Baker has been the strength for us.  Health, especially your children's health, is an interesting thing.  It really trumps everything else that you thought was important for you or your children when it isn't quite there.  But when it is, it's so simple to take it for granted.  There are so many sweet children here who have it much worse than we do and we are absolutely blessed more than we could have hoped for.

P.S. Shoutout to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City.  I am amazed by the care we receive constantly and we absolutely couldn't be in a better place.