Hemangioma update

Caroline is still taking propranolol, and is doing great with it. We stopped the home health nursing several weeks ago because Dr. Prose felt that since Caroline has had no problems with her blood pressure up to this point, there is no reason to think she will start to have problems now. I haven't really updated much with pictures of the hemangioma because, well, there's not much to update. There has not really been a dramatic change overall. The hemangioma is definitely smaller, and lighter in color, so it has certainly helped; it just hasn't been the "magic bullet" we were hoping for. Truth be told, my expectations were probably very unrealistic. I had just hoped that somehow the medicine would just magically make it disappear. That's unlikely to happen. Some of the pictures I have seen from other parents whose children have been on it have truly been remarkable. Dr. Prose has said that we probably will not see the same dramatic effects due to Caroline's age and the growth stage of her hemangioma. It stands to reason that she would not respond in the same way that a much younger child would whose hemangioma is rapidly growing. Makes sense. I really wish we could have done the propranolol from the beginning and skipped the steroids altogether, but that was not an option at the time, so I've got to try to let that go. All that being said, I'm so happy we made the decision to start Caroline on the propranolol. It definitely stopped the growth and made it smaller, and the hope is that it will jump start the involution phase (when the body reabsorbs the hemangioma). I'm hoping we can keep her on it at least until she's nine months old (I think Dr. Prose will agree) to make sure the hemangioma is done growing before weaning her off. Then the plan is to wait and see for a while.