snowdeal.org > ex machina: the eric update - day 100: first eye exam on the 'outside'. a future road trip for an eye surgery consult.

ex machina

the eric update - day 100: first eye exam on the 'outside'. a future road trip for an eye surgery consult.

today, we had our first post-rop surgery exam. unfortunately we had to wait for awhile to see the doctor, but luckily kris had the foresight to pack a bottle because bad, bad things would have happened if we had found ourselves stuck in the office without little odin's afternoon feeding. i'm still getting used to the logistics involved in feeding every three hours and didn't really think to bring a bottle . "good thing i have kris around", i thought as i heard my own stomach rumble.

eventually, dr. droste, the same doctor who did his initial assessments and rop surgery arrived and performed a thorough exam. he found that eric is farsighted, which is normal and doesn't mean that he's going to be farsighted forever; as a baby's eyeballs grow, the farsightedness should slowly diminish. he also discovered that the conditions that prompted the intial surgery ( stage III ROP with plus disease in all "twelve hours" of both eyes ) are getting much better, despite the burn "take rate" being slightly slower than he normally likes to see. woohoo!

however, there has been some damage to little odin's retina that dr. droste wants to have evaluated by a specialist all the way across the state to see if additional, more invasive, surgery might be required to prevent any more extensive damage. the proliferation of blood vessels that occured with the ROP has created a slight ridge in a portion of both eyes that is "slightly elevating" his retina. and while the elevation is minimal, it can still lead to retinal detachment, so dr. droste wants someone to take a second look and assess the situation.

so on october 18th, we get to take a field trip to detroit on the eve of his hernia surgery.

"be prepared to be in the waiting room for a long time," he said.

"bring a lunch."

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10/12/2004 06:37:00 PM 5 comments

5 Comments:

Just to let the rest of the world know how anal I can be, I can't let it slide that this is really e4's "centarian" date, isn't it? not Day 95 :) - Dad

By Anonymous, at 7:25 AM

uh. jeez. you are anal retentive :-)

just kidding. round the clock feedings have me not knowing exactly what day it is.

By e3, at 12:15 PM

Wow. A friend pointed your 'blog out to me as we were discussing my very own micro-preemie, who was born 9/25 at 25 weeks 3 days. I read all of your Odin-related posts over the past two days, mostly while pumping. Thanks for putting all this down in such detail; it's heartening to hear the stories of other itty bitty babies doing so well.

-Sarah

By Anonymous, at 1:05 PM

hi sarah -

congratulations on the birth of shoshanna! thanks for taking taking the time to comment - i'm sure you're really busy. i read about those hiccups she's having and i remember them well, it did seem like odin was having a seizure! between the hiccups and normal preemie "twitches", i was quite certain that odin had an undiagnosed nervous system disorder :-)

lots of people read the site for a variety of reasons, but it really makes me smile when a parent in the midst of being in the nicu writes and email or comments publically that the site has helped them in some small part make sense of the nicu.

best wishes and good luck!

By e3, at 4:31 PM

This is a late congratulations and I'm sorry I missed the day that Odin could go home. (Actually I was in GR visiting family)

I am SOOO happy for you! Isn't it wonderful not having to plan your time around hospital visits? It's so much better relaxing at home with the wee one. =)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Hugs to Odin and a high five from Giovanni
Brittany from Florida

By Anonymous, at 6:27 PM

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“"it is hard to be brave," said piglet, sniffing slightly, "when you're only a Very Small Animal." rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said: "it is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us."”

the complete tales & poems of winnie the pooh

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this site chronicles the continuing adventures of my son, odin, who was unexpectedly born on the fourth of july at 25 weeks gestation, weighing 1 pound 7 ounces.

he's quite a fighter and you can always send him a postcard to the most current address listed here if you're inspired by his adventures. see the postcard project/google maps mashup to see a map of the postcards.

if you're new, you can browse the archives to catch up. and don't forget to watch a few movies that i made while we were in the neonatal intensive care unit. or if you want the abridged version and you can find a copy, you can read about his adventures in the november 2005 issue of parents magazine.

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