At about 2 months old we started noticing that Mark had something on his nose. At Mark's 2 month old check up the doctor told me that it was strawberry hemangioma and she wanted us go to specialist to look at it. So after that we went to doctor to doctor to doctor all telling us the same thing. We now go to a doctor out in Mount Pleasant about 30 minutes away and he has been treating this on babies for a long time. Strawberry hemangioma will grow but then eventually it will go away. Doctors aren't concern about it unless it is on a bad place like on the nose or on the eye, so in Mark's case we needed to do something now. There are three options, surgery, steroids or medication called propranolol. We didn't want to do surgery and the steroids has a lot of scary side affects and doctors recommended propranolol. Bret and I went to the temple and did a lot of praying. We felt that whatever we decided to do that the Lord would be with Mark and that he would be fine. So we decided to do the propranolol. He has been on it for 2 weeks now and I am amazed at how well it is working.

Definition:
Hemangioma: A benign tumor formed by a collection of excess blood vessels. A hemangioma may be visible through the skin as a birthmark, known colloquially as a 'strawberry mark.' Most hemangiomas that occur at birth disappear after a few months or years. http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey


strawberry hemangioma

A red, firm, dome-shaped hemangioma seen at birth or soon after, usually on the head or neck, that grows rapidly and usually regressesand involutes without scarring.

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/strawberry+hemangioma

It was growing so fast. Each day it was getting bigger and bigger. 

Here are before pictures:

These pictures are one week on the medication (Propranolol). I took these pictures at the doctor's office.

Mark is 4 months old.

(3months old in this picture)

 Mark's shirt says "If you think I'm handsome you should see my daddy" So true! Here is a picture of my two handsome boys.

2 weeks being on propranolol medication

My sister gave us this outfit. He sometime doesn't like when I put hats or beanies on him as you can see in this picture, but he looks so cute. It is getting hot here so this hat is really nice. We walked to institute (we are studying the old testament) today in his stroller.