| The NICU Experience | Aaron update 36 |
| Subject: Aaron update 36 Date: Friday, January 10, 2003 11:06 AM From: Kevin Quick To: Aaron Update List We’re back in San Francisco, in our usual room 406. It looks like this is sort of our semi-permanent room now. Other than a few A’s and B’s (apneas and bradycardias), Aaron is doing great. He’s still on CPAP, and his numbers are all good. He’s now weighs 1130 grams. The official result of Aaron’s third and final head ultrasound: Perfect! Aaron had his first eye exam yesterday. The diagnosis was “immature,” which is a non-definitive, but not a bad diagnosis. I talked with Dr. Lee this morning about this. At this point, the blood vessels in Aaron’s eyes are immature, meaning that they have more growing to do. But at this point, anyway, there is no evidence of abnormal growth of the blood vessels. This could change over the next few weeks, as his blood vessels are immature and will continue growing, so Aaron will be checked every two weeks until we have a definitive answer. But so far, so good! I also learned from Dr. Lee that if there are minor problems with the blood vessels, they can correct themselves over time, and may not need the laser surgery. More serious problems would require the laser surgery; there are several babies in the NICU who have already had this surgery. The laser surgery zeros in on individual blood vessels and zaps them, preventing them from growing further, and helping to keep the retina attached to the back of the eye. Apparently, serious cases of abnormal blood vessel growth can result in the retina detaching from the back of the eye, causing blindness. Here’s a picture of Aaron with his CPAP mask off. I was able to take this picture last night during one of his “lung treatment” times, which he has every 6 hours. During these lung treatments, they remove his mask and blow some air containing special lung medication toward his face, which he breathes in naturally. When he’s not getting the actual lung treatment, he gets some pure oxygen from an “ambu-bag (shown in the picture),” which blows a steady stream of oxygen, and also has a squeeze-bag on it to help force some breathing, if needed. Kevin |
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