Update on the "H"

Monthly trip to the dermatology team at UCSF. The hemangioma looks good, and with Raya off steroids for two weeks already, and still on propranolol, we are assured that things look as good as they should. In fact, they look so good to Dr. Frieden that she suggested maybe we shouldn't do laser treatments unless we really want to (the hemangioma should, over time, disappear on its own, though it might take months or years), and when I assured her that we do, she said we could start in the next month or two. She said the first treatment would be very light and we probably wouldn't see many changes, and that she would be aiming mostly for the most prominent patches of redness on the skin. So...it looks like we will be doing our first laser treatment in late July. We were a bit taken aback by the quickness of it, and once we started to go home we had doubts about whether we should be rushing this or waiting a bit longer until things really settle down, but we'll consult the doctors one more time and then make a final decision. The good part of it all is that Raya is no longer on steroids, is growing in height again, and the hemangioma is completely stable. We asked them whether her out-of-place first tooth could be the result of her gum swelling because of the hemangioma, but they brushed it off as "within the normal range," and did not seem too concerned. She does have a crooked pirate tooth--the sweet creature--but her shy smile is just as cute as ever. While in the waiting room at UCSF, she smiled at anyone who made eye contact with her, and just as quickly as she smiled, she buried her face in my chest with a shy giggle. The little flirt.