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the eric update - day 149: another rop surgery follow-up exam.

today we had yet another follow-up exam to see how little odin is recoving from the effects of his and the retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and his eye surgery to address the condition.

as always, the first step involves putting drops in his eyes to dilate his pupils. everyone always comments on how little he fusses when they put the drops in, since they sting and make everything uncomfortably bright.

next, the eye doctor puts a lens over odin's eye that focuses a light emanating from his headgear onto odin's retina.

he comments that there appears to be very little scarring from the ROP and that he remains quite confident that odin will escape any permanent damage. although he remained quite optimistic that things were caught and corrected quickly, he cautioned that we could still see manifestations of the effects of the disease process reveal themselves slowly over the next three years or so.

specifically, he mentioned that the scarring could "pull" his retina slightly "off center" which would have the effect of making it appear as if he were not looking directly at something, even though he is, in fact, looking right at it.

of course, as hypervigilent parents, i'm sure we'll probably unecessarily focus ( ahem ) on whether or not he's looking squarely at us.

we waited in the doctor's office for over an hour and - just in case you thought that odin was always content and serene - after the drops and the bright lights and the exam, he lets everyone know that he's had just about enough of whole experience.

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11/30/2004 11:16:00 PM 0 comments

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[ rhetoric ]

"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

[ about ]

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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