ROP fo' sho'

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Darbi had her 4th eye exam today and much to my dismay... she has ROP. :( Apparently it is pretty severe.. But I really don't know that much about her case. Not severe enough to require the phrase "retinal detatchment" in its description but I know enough about ROP to ask some questions but not the important questions. The doctor said he will check her again on Friday (2 days - usually not good when the appointments are so close together) and will probably be doing laser eye surgery. If not Friday, then Monday or Tuesday (the surgery, I mean). The doctor said that the window of opportunity to do this surgery isn't very big so I'm super glad they caught it when they did. I don't know how far along it has progressed. I do know that the surgery will take 30-45 minutes per eye and is actually very painful for these little ones. They will be giving her a lot of pain meds and I hope she doesn't remember any of it.

He said that she will have "central" sight which is basically anything you can see out in front of you but he said that she may lose her peripheral vision.. So she'll be a dangerous driver someday.. She'll be joining every other horrible driver out there (if we live in UT.. ) which I'm crossing my fingers we don't.. sorry Clint :) I was hoping that it would be alright and hopefully correct itself (the ROP I mean.. not the drivers. There's no hope for them...) but he said that he's 98% sure she will need laser eye surgery.

She's still doing alright on her feedings. They fortified my milk to 22 cal and stopped giving her hind milk because my milk is so fatty that she's not absorbing all the calories that I am providing so it's just causing me more work. She is tolerating the 22 cal and I want to just stop there. The doctor today said he wanted to jump to 24... I said NO. She's doing fine... Let's leave her there. And I found out today that they have her on like 15 different meds throughout the day! I don't even know what they are!! All that medication PLUS more fortification that we are not sure she can handle, I know will be too much for her little body. So we're trying to just keep her stable for her ominous upcoming eye surgery.

On a funny note, Clint and I went in tonight to help give her a bath and she kept pooping in her bath water!! We cleaned it up, changed her water, and started all over again.. We were afraid of another mini water bomb but she just decided to keep passing gas and she had Clint doubled over laughing so hard! He couldn't believe such loud (and proud) sounds could be coming from his sweet teeny-tiny little girl! Pretty funny...

Weight today = 1635 grams

4 Wisecracks:

Megan B ♥ said...

Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh. Thththththththt. I'm so sorry. I hear this surgery is SUPER common and she won't even notice her loss of peripheral vision because she won't ever really have it. He probably told you that she will likely need glasses at a really young age (like 2 years old), but that will only add to her supreme adorableness! Still, I'm really sorry. :( Miss Darbi, you are a rock star!

Megan B ♥ said...

Way to go standing strong on the fortification. You are a wonderful, intuitive mommy. Follow your gut every time.

Shari Romney Family!! said...

So sorry to hear that about her eyes! I have a little niece who is three and has had numerous eye surgeries. It is so amazing with all the new technology today, all the wonderful things they can do to help such tiny babies at such a young age, that will help them the rest of their lives. I want you to know that we are still thinking of your family, and that we are still praying for you guys!
~Shari

Nic and Ashley Haws said...

That makes me so sad... ROP... and surgery! You're poor little girl. I really hope she does okay through it all. I hate it when "child" and "pain" are used in the same sentence.

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