Today we are headed to Children's Hospital of Atlanta for Stella. She has a hemangioma on her nose that is growing quite rapidly. The doctors are concerned that it may start to impinge her breathing so we are dealing with it now, rather than waiting to see how much larger the hemangioma will grow. Normally they resolve on their own in 3-5 years. We were given two options as to how to aggressively treat the growth. The first option is to inject it with steroids over a course of 8-9 months. The second option is to take an oral medication over the same amount of time. There are many drawbacks and side effects to the steroid injections including impeding her growth and diabetes. The second option has very few side effects but the oral medicine is a beta-blocker (recently discovered to dramatically reduce the growth of hemangiomas) and Stella has to be monitored in the hospital for 48 hours. The risks include a drop in her blood pressure and/or blood sugar levels. However, once she has been monitored and given the all clear, she shouldn't have any side effects. Steve and I have elected to have Stella try the beta blockers as we were concerned about the risk with the steroids. Needless to say we are apprehensive to have her do either treatment, but we know that Stella will receive the best care possible while in the hospital. After all, who knows that Atlanta hospital system better than the Hinmans?!?!? Wish us luck and a short stay!