Surgery

My son was born with a mark on his forehead. His pediatrician told us it was a Nevus Sebaceous. Then, another pediatrician called it something else. Then a dermatologist said it was a juvenile xanthogranuloma and that it would go away by the time he turned three.

Eli is 2 1/2 now and the mark was growing skin tags rather than going away so we decided to get a fourth opinion. The new dermatologist diagnosed him with a Nevus Sebaceous. Since this was the same as the first diagnosis given, we decided that it was the correct one.

A Nevus Sebaceous has a risk of becoming cancerous later in life. With this in mind we decided that the sooner we have it removed from Eli's forehead the better.

Yesterday was the surgery. Eli and I left the house at 545am and drove to the surgical center. Sweet Eli was so well behaved wile we waited. He knew we were having his mark removed and he was very brave. We sang lots of songs to fill our wait time and he made all the nurses fall in love with him.

Here are some pictures of my brave and happy son:

Giving mommy a cheesy grin while the nurse checks his pulse.

In his hospital gown.

On his way to the operating room.

Seconds after waking up post-op.

The circle on his forehead, that most people never noticed is now a line on his forehead that most people will never notice. And now I have the piece of mind that I did all I could to prevent health problems for him later in life.

And I must add that this was way more traumatic for me than for Eli. I was so worried that something would go wrong. I was particularly anxious about his sedation. Thank goodness I have a wonderful husband who was able to give Eli a father's blessing the night before the surgery. It was really more for me than Eli, and it worked...my anxiety went away and I did not go into a stress induced labor while waiting for Eli to wake up after the surgery.