The Marks that Remove 'The Mark'

Wilson has always had this unusual port wine stain on the side of his head.  It is not very noticeable, but could get darker and raised as he grows.  It runs from the side of his head, across his cheek, and all the way to his neck.

Our pediatrician wanted it to be further checked out, so he sent us to Children's Mercy in Kansas City and it is just a cosmetic issue which will not likely cause him ailments.  They do recommend an easy laser removal while they are still babies which should lighten it considerably.  The doctor mentioned the treatment would cause some bruising.

Some bruising.

So insurance covers this procedure and we have met our 30 million dollar family deductible so we signed on up for the procedure.  Bring it on times 5 or 6, because that's how many he has to do.

First trip was Thursday, my mom, her friend, and I all went to KC to eat, shop, and oh, yeah, take my baby to his appointment.

It was at 1:30, which is NOT, I swear NOT, what they told me on the phone (1:00) but I will never prove because the paperwork they sent says 2:40, they must have sent that out before calling me and telling me to change it to 1:00.  They did.  I know they did.

Anywho, after a long waiting room period where I caught up on my Disney Channel rock band type movies, Wilson and I made our way back to the room a little early, 1:15ish.

After weighing and the usual, there was some check in type basic interviews by doctor and nurse.  Then nurse left to get ready to do numbing cream.


Some time later, she returned with numbing stuff and giant bandaid things.

After strategic bandaid placing in an attempt to mold Wilson's ear to its Vulcan partner,

we were set to wait a VERY generous 45 minutes while the numbing stuff worked.

1 potty trip and 2 catnaps later- 1 of which was Wilson's - the nurses returned to remove the bandaids.  From his hair.  It was like removing a bandaid, from his hair.  Peach fuzz is as sensitive as actual hair is to this type of pulling, I gather.  Wilson did not like this.

He was already mad, right?  So why not just jump right into the laser procedure.  In a room with about 10 people and brief introductions to the scream of a mad Wilson, I was given a trendy pair of eye protection glasses.

Wilson was swaddled and a rag was held over his eyes.  Every baby loves a good hold down without vision.  But for some reason, mine was not keen on it.

The laser treatment is like a device with a tiny circle outline.  Instead of a constant sound and movement, the circle is place and then the laser zaps and flashes once.  Then they move it to do another.  After they did the first two zaps, I could see really dark purple marks where each zap happened.

And I was like:

while still there

in car, leaving

The procedure took about 3 minutes to do, but Wilson was not calming down when it was over.  He was screaming and crying and I am pretty sure he was saying, "They did that to ME!  Me!  You let them do that to ME!  You love me!"  He kinda freaked them all out with his tirade, so they gave him Tylenol and Benadryl and he finally settled down.  

The next few hours he was just a little loopy, not happy, not sad.  You know the feeling if you ever pop a Benadryl.  By evening he had perked up and got happy, but he really looked bad, which is apparently the norm.  

That evening.

When you are sent to hospital like Children's Mercy and see the neurological unit, and the kids with scars and all kinds of different woes, you do get a great deal of perspective.  He is one lucky babe and we are blest to have a happy and healthy child.  So many parents have sad and scary appointments there.

Next day at his pediatric appointment, he was happy as could be.

bucket hats until his Phantom mask arrives

I wrote this post right after the procedure but never posted it.  Here are his bruises today, Day 10.

not too bad