Noah's Birthmark: Take 3

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Noah was born with a birthmark on the side of his head....  he had stork bites all over his face too but those faded enough where you can't really see them/they aren't there. 

However, his birthmark on his head is a different story. 

I have NEVER seen a birthmark change like this and it worries me.   I don't know if it's associated with his MT16 or if it's something else, but it's nagging at me. 

It was flat when he was a baby, there were no raised spots, and recently, I noticed some changes, it's was last May after a haircut that I noticed.

 ALL TAKEN MAY 20, 2009

He had started to get these raised areas in it.   I took him to see his Ped who referred him to a dermatologist and then when we saw him, he just sorta dismissed it.

Well the shaggy dog's hair has been cut again, and this is what we found... 

 ALL TAKEN JANUARY 12, 2010

We measured it in May and it was 1cm by 1 1/2 cm and now it's 1 1/2 cm by 2cm ...

Now, me laying in bed with insomnia, being completely unable to sleep ...  I was watching Bad Girls Club and the only other noise in the house is from the babies radio that is always on ... Cal's TV is on too, but I can't hear it... especially over my TV.   So I'm sitting there thinking about if I should call the Dermatologist or just leave it alone... and I hear  "Mom" ..... and nothing else.  I paused the TV.   It sounded like it had come from the hallway, it sounded *kinda* like Noah.   I went to say "What?" cuz there was no response so as I'm saying that there is another "Mom" ...  so I said "Noah?"  It sounds close enough to Noah, but doesn't SOUND like him completely.  It's definitely coming from the hallway, like he's halfway down the hall by the baby's door.   Then I hear, "Mom can you help me?"  ...  and so I wait a beat and then get up.  The voice actually sounded more female.  It was just weird.  So I walk out of my room, and there is no one in the hall.   I flip on the light in the hall, I look in the living room - in the nursery - no one - so I check Noah's room, he's on the opposite end of the hall then we are, and he's sleeping on the floor in the middle of his room..... he had a blanket over his face ...  if it had been Noah, he wouldn't have moved back into his room and if he had, you would have heard him go back to his room, and his voice would had been muffled by not only the distance but the blanket too...... fact is, he was seriously asleep.   I thought about the fact that it may have been him talking in his sleep, but the voice was coming from the hall... not his room, muffled by a blanket and around corners.  I had uncovered his face, and checked him.   

He's got swollen lymph nodes too... and of course I'm concerned about the spot, and keep looking at it, so he's flipping out asking if it'll go away and such, cuz he's scared he will have to go to the DR's about it, which he will, but I'd rather make him go through that anxiety when the time comes instead of now. 

Now, is it coincidental that I heard it while worrying about my child's health?

The soonest the Dermatologist could get him in is February 23rd, I also called Genetics about it.

Update on Noah... and the Birthmark...

First off, if you read my other blog A Page In My Book ... then you've already seen these photos... but I figured I would share them here too.

Noah, my cantankerous youngin ... recently went shopping on his laptop...

He was buying all sorts of toys that he wanted ....

ALL SORTS ... that he HAS to have!

I told him to keep wishing - ha ha ha...

Anyway - his total kept getting bigger and bigger... this was just one total, before he was done... um... yeah... not gonna happen...

So if you haven't read the NOTES ON NOAH - please do so, otherwise you may not understand the rest of this.

So we took him to the DR on Friday, just his regular Ped - and just like I thought, it was an instant referral to the dermatologist. He warned me that he would most likely want to remove it and do a biopsy (which is automatic when they remove anything from the skin) ...

I have to wait until Tuesday to get the date for that, but hopefully they can get him in realitively soon. Last time I went, it was well over a month of a wait - cuz they book up. (rolling eyes) ... one can only hope they make acceptions for situations like this, and have time slots set aside for this type of issue, but I doubt it.

So step one is done... and step two, waiting.

Notes On Noah... Please Read!

For those of you who are not familiar with Noah's story, my one pound twelve ounce miracle born with a rare genetic disorder, who I was told wouldn't survive pregnancy ... you can find his Pregnancy And Birth Story on this blog, and you can also go to my other blog and read an article I wrote about him called AGAINST THE ODDS which is also featured on the Be Not Afraid Website (to get to it you click on STORIES and then TRISOMIES AND OTHER RARE MOSIACISMS and then on AGAINST THE ODDS it will look like this ... (I removed the writing other then the menu)


Then you should see ....


Anyway ... Noah has had a birth mark on the side of his head since birth... (duh it's a BIRTH mark) he also had port wine stains on his face. Nathan had the port wine stains also. Anyway - I noticed rather recently that the center of his previously flat oval birth mark (about 1 cm by 1 1/2 cm) has risen in the middle ... this is my sad attempts of trying to get it in picture



So being stupid I looked up skin cancer...

Symptoms

Early signs

The most important warning sign for melanoma is any change in size, shape, or color of a mole or other skin growth, such as a birthmark. Watch for changes that occur over a period of weeks to a month. Use the American Cancer Society's ABCD rule to evaluate skin changes, and call your health professional if you have any of the following changes.⁴

• A is for asymmetry. One half of the mole or skin growth doesn't match the other half.
• B is for border irregularity. The edges are ragged, notched, or blurred.
• C is for color. The pigmentation is not uniform. Shades of tan, brown, and black are present. Dashes of red, white, and blue add to the mottled appearance. Changes in color distribution, especially the spread of color from the edge of a mole into the surrounding skin, also are an early sign of melanoma.
• D is for diameter. The mole or skin growth is larger than 6mm or about the size of a pencil eraser. Any growth of a mole should be of concern.

Signs of melanoma in an existing mole include changes in:

• Elevation, such as thickening or raising of a previously flat mole.
• Surface, such as scaling, erosion, oozing, bleeding, or crusting.
• Surrounding skin, such as redness, swelling, or small new patches of color around a larger lesion (satellite pigmentations).
• Sensation, such as itching, tingling, or burning.
• Consistency, such as softening or small pieces that break off easily (friability).

And wasn't happy.

Stupid. I've already made an appointment and all that will happen is he'll be referred to a dermatologist and from there who knows - I know there will be a biopsy in the future which will be the end of Noah's world (because he's terrified of anything DR related). I am really scared. The places we know where his disorder is, one of them is his skin. The philosophy we have to live by, anything can happen at any time with any organ... it's in his skin. I'm scared. I'm trying SO HARD not to think about it.

So I ask you - if you pray, PLEASE pray. If you don't, do whatever you do. Positive thoughts... nothing but good news where this is concerned. It's bad enough one of my best friends is waiting for biopsy results. It's bad enough I went through a leukemia scare with Calahan when he was 2. Now I'm having nightmares that something is going on in my miracle man.

I got too comfortable with everything, I started to only think about it really when he got sick. I started to only have the panic attacks when he got sick. Now - I'm trying not to think about it and I'm trying to be positive. But I can't push away the fear.