No ROP!
Greetings to everyone.
Xavier had his ROP exam this afternoon. Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) sometimes occurs in preemies as a result of abnormal blood vessel formation and scar tissue growing across the retina. The final verdict: No ROP! Hallelujah! The blood vessels in his retinas are now completely formed, and formed correctly. No scar tissue!
Xavier does need a follow-up exam with an optometrist in late February, 2014. The doctor at Childrens who performed the ROP exam asked if Xavier went cross-eyed or had we noticed any eye "sticking." We explained we have noticed crossed eyes sometimes when he sees his bottle coming near, but never a "sticking." That was enough to warrant the follow-up.
Rebecca, who did not get any sleep last night after 10:00 PM (Xavier was well-behaved; it was just "one of those nights"), finally found the sandman about 6:00 this morning. At 8:30, the doorbell rang leading the dalmatian to bark.
Jerked back into consciousness and in a sleepy, near-comatose grog, Rebecca stumbled her way to the door with Xavier in hand. It was the courier from Apria, there to collect the oximeter. I guess it's a good thing we didn't dilly-dally about getting the readings!
We called Xavier's pediatrician late in the afternoon to see if the results have been interpreted. Apria had just gotten to downloading the data from the meter and were an hour away from sending it to the doctor. Sigh. At least they didn't lose the data this time.
Speaking with the doctor, however, was of more interest. The oxygen preemies are on supports their lung development, their brain development and the development of their eyes. The doctor told us yesterday that medical science does not know how to determine when is "the right time" to take a preemie off oxygen.
Medical science knows that when oxygen saturation consistently ranges from low to high in a preemie, there will be problems with development of one or more of the three areas: lungs, brain or eyes, and the baby needs to be on the O2. However, preemies who reach their term date (and have stable oxygen saturation levels), being on oxygen gives them little benefit. Medical science has not found a way to determine if the O2 is continuing to support development, and if so, what development is being supported.
Of course, there is the obvious reason to have babies on oxygen, and that is calorie usage. If a baby burns too many calories breathing, he will have less calories for growth. However, Xavier does not work hard to breathe (as born out by his Room Air test yesterday), and he rarely retracts.
We expect to have the doctor give us the "official" word to take Xavier off his oxygen.
Great is our God, and awesome are His works! Thank you for your prayers, they are vehicles for His glory!