Retinas

Jack had a tiny dot of blood in his eye and it freaked me out. With his history of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) I was afraid his retina might be detaching. I don't even know if you bleed from a detached retina, but it made me very worried. We went to the pediatric opthamologist. She had to dilate his eyes which took about 45 minutes. Then we went in and she checked each of his retinas while I held him and he screamed like he had a hot poker in each eye. She had to hold his eyes open with a clamp. She did use numbing drops but I am sure it hurt him. She said his retinas looked really good and the blood spot was nothing. Phewww.

She also told me we had to come back in 6 months. She said that babies who had ROP, even if it was a minor case like Jack's, will likely need glasses early in childhood. That part is a bummer, especially since it might be hard for him to wear glasses and the external part of the cochlear implant since that goes over his ear. I am guessing they must have a way to do that but I do not know how they do.

After the appointment I dropped Julianna off at school and then took Jack to daycare in Merrick. When I was backing out of the parking spot at the daycare I heard a loud pop and then heard my front tire hissing. It turned out I ran over a brown bag with a glass bottle in it. I made it to a gas station hoping they could plug the tire but they could not. They put my donut on and are ordering me two new tires. They said they really can't mix an old and new on the front. I have to go back tomorrow to get the two new tires.

So, it has been one of those days.

This is an interesting article about the long term complications of ROP and the eyesight of premature babies who did not have ROP.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2214.2002.02801.x/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false

The more I learn about prematurity the more I can say, do everything you can to keep that baby inside for as long as you can.