The Birthmark & The Bump - Revisited

It has been sometime since I wrote about Moira's head and I have noticed that we do get the occasional traffic on that entry. I guess there are a lot of kids out there being born with hemangiomas and dermoids cysts. Now, I'm not quite sure how many are lucky like us to have both on the same forehead, but I know that my entry helped me vent my own frustrations and hopefully it was helpful to others too.
So, here we are, Moira is 14 and a half months old. The hemangiaoma is still there, but things are changing. We've noticed it's definitely getting less bold. It formerly was a deep crimson red and if you touched it felt like a blister. This picture was taken when she was about five months old. I found that the first couple of months, I took a lot of pictures strategically so that the hemangiaoma was out of the picture. Needless to say, we have quite a few pictures that look like I just cut the top of her head off. If you look in the picture, the dermoid isn't too obvious. We *think* it's because her face was so full that you couldn't really see it.
Here is a recent picture. I think there is a noticeable difference, especially when you compare the two side by side. The pediatric plastic surgeon did say it can take upwards of five years for the hemangioma to completely disappear, but I'm hoping it goes away sooner. I'd love for Mo not to have to worry about it when she starts school.
As for the dermoid, it seems like it's getting more prominent as she's getting older. Maybe it's as her face changes and she's loosing the baby fat, or maybe it's because we put her hair up more. Either way, it's there.
We've decided to wait a year or so before we have it surgically removed. The pediatric plastic surgeon told us that it does need to be removed, as there is a risk for infection, but it's not an emergency. Of course, I would like to put off the surgery for as long as possible. They will need to sedate her and put a breathing tube down her throat which scares me far more then surgically removing the dermoid. We hope that in that time frame the hemangiaoma gets smaller, so if that needs to be surgically removed too we can do both at the same time. So maybe this time next year, Mo will be gearing up for surgery.
There are still people in the public that comment on her hemangiaoma. I get the occasional "Did she hurt herself?" or the "Ahh, those boo-boos will get better!". There are a lot of well-meaning (usually grandmothers) people who stop to tell me about their grandchild or niece or neighbor who had one and now as they're 25 the hemangiomas are gone, like magic. And, unfortunately, there are still rude people out there that lack the etiquette to speak like a human and utter some comment that usually brings out my inner mama bear. Luckily, those instances are few and far between.
A lot of our friends and family have commented how much they notice a change in her hemangioma. Comments like "Wow! It's so much lighter now!" and "You totally can tell a difference!" make me feel a little better about it. It also makes Bry and I feel like we aren't loosing it, since we see her everyday and really want to believe that the hemangioma is going away.
Most days, I don't see it anymore. Just like when you look at someone you love. You don't really see just their eyes or nose or lips, you see their whole face, their whole person. That's what I see when I look at Mo. I see my beautiful yet crazy little girl!