At some point we have noticed that Julia was scratching the tumour on her neck. Our paediatrician warned us over the possibility of severe bleeding from such a vascular tissue if it would get damaged. This scared us. We tried to make Julia to wear gloves for some time, mainly during the night time when she was scratching the most. We also kept her fingernails short. Still, eventually the tissue got damaged, but... no severe bleeding. Just a few drops of blood like you would expect from a scratch. Not that bad we thought, but we didn't realized that this is how ulceration started...
Beginning of ulceration.
one week later
Our paediatrician admitted she hasn't had any experience with similar cases and only prescribed an antibacterial cream (Bactroban) and sent us off to a surgeon for further consultation. The ulceration didn't seem to cause much pain to Julia. She seemed all right with the exception of when the tumour was getting irritated (bath and dressing changes). Our visit with the local surgeon (Dublin, Ireland) was scheduled in a week of time. At this stage we have started to do some serious research. We came across an online forum in Poland solely dedicated to hemangiomas: www.naczyniaki.pl (sorry, it's in Polish but you can try an auto-translated version here). We have found there Dr Dariusz Wyrzykowski a children's surgeon who is specializing in treating those and was actively helping parents with kids suffering from hemangiomas. Based on pictures which we have sent him, he advised to use paraffin gauze dressing (so it wouldn't stick) with some antiseptic. He recommended Bactigras, to be folded in 2-3 layers and applied/changed daily. He (correctly!) predicted for the ulceration to heal in 4-6 weeks and to leave a scar. He has also left for our consideration the possibility to have the hemangioma surgically removed and he made an impression that this would be a fairly simple procedure for him to carry out. First, the ulceration had to heal though.
Progressing ulceration
Dr Wyrzykowski explained to us that the whole lump on Julia's neck is one large hemangioma.
The red tissue on top of it is just the directly visible part. And that the tumour is still in its growing phase.
The red tissue on top of it is just the directly visible part. And that the tumour is still in its growing phase.
Continue reading: Operate vs Wait (1:1)
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