| The NICU Experience | Aaron update 65 |
| Subject: Aaron update 65 Date: Saturday, February 8, 2003 7:40 PM From: Kevin Quick To: Aaron Update List We’re back in San Francisco, in our regular room #406. Aaron gained his usual 50 grams, so he’s now at 1941 grams. He looks and feels big! Last night Aaron had his eyes checked by Dr. Good, and Kathleen and I happened to be there while he did the exam. His diagnosis was “some stage 1 and stage 2 ROP in both eyes.” We asked him what this meant, and he explained quite a lot to us. Retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP, is abnormal growth of blood vessels in the eyes. Dr. Good said that ROP is due more these days to premature birth than it is to the baby receiving too much extra oxygen. He said in the old days, too much oxygen was a major cause, but today, oxygen is monitored so closely that it really isn’t too much of a factor. He said that 80% to 90% of 24-weekers like Aaron have at least some ROP. 80% of these cases take care of themselves, with no laser surgery required. In the other 20% of cases, those that progress to stage 3, laser surgery is required, but 80% of these procedures are successful. If a baby receives laser surgery, there’s a good chance that he’ll need eyeglasses at an early age. Stage 4 ROP, which results in detached retinas, causes complete blindness. I believe stage 4 ROP is what caused Stevie Wonder’s blindness. Anyway, Dr. Good said that Aaron has some stage 1 and stage 2 ROP. The doctor can see a distinct “ring” where the blood vessels have grown out to and have begun concentrating, but he hasn’t seen any evidence of stage 3 ROP, where the blood vessels start growing inward toward the centers of the eyeballs. He said that he’s seen no progression in Aaron’s ROP for the past 2 weeks, which is good. Aaron will be checked every week for the next 6 weeks; the next 6 weeks are the critical weeks. If you would, please pray with us that Aaron’s ROP will not progress any more, and that he’ll grow out of it over the next few weeks. He seems to have grown out of everything else, so why not this, too? Kathleen gave Aaron his first bath today. Nurse Lisa helped Kathleen with the details, and Kathleen enjoyed it very much. Kathleen is going to be (well, I guess she already is) a great mom! Kathleen breast fed, and I bottle fed Aaron today. Last week, when I fed him, it took about a half hour for him to finish his bottle. Today, it took him about 15 minutes. After feeding, I was able to “kangaroo” with him for a couple of hours; a little father/son bonding time. Both daddy and baby enjoyed this. As a matter of fact, Aaron is still kangarooing as I write this. Thank you again for your continued prayers. Love, Kevin, Kathleen and Aaron |
  |