RIP, ROP

Bath time = happy time (1/3/14 ... I'm behind!)

My pre-homecoming theory has officially been debunked. I’d been telling friends and family for weeks I was hoping to have *more* time when Calder came home to do more things, like cook, write thank you notes, post blog entries, etc. Now that I’m home, I mostly just wish I’ll find time to take a shower! It’s probably no big surprise to most people that getting out Christmas cards turned into New Year’s cards turned into announcements, and even that hasn’t happened yet.

Anyway – the great news this week? Cross another diagnosis off the list. As of our latest trip to the ophthalmologist (as many times as I’ve typed this word, I don’t believe I’ll ever spell it correctly on the first try – one too many l’s and h’s, if you ask me), Calder no longer has any remnants of ROP. Perhaps the best part? Not only is it gone, but it won’t come back.  

Chillaxin

And Relaxin

We aren’t finished visiting this office, though. Calder remains at a higher than normal risk for other eye problems, like lazy eye or crossed eyes, so we’ll return in six months for another check-up. Still, this schedule is a vast improvement over the two-week, turned four-week, check-up schedule he had been keeping until this point.

Dr. T's Office

Because we see a number of specialists, we like to get multiple perspectives on some issues, for our own clarity. Some provide more details than others, and every once in a while they take slightly different stances on an issue. So this week at Calder’s “six-month” check-up, we asked our pediatrician her position on isolation, similar to what we spoke to our pulmonologist about the week before. When can we go to the store with Calder? When can we get on a plane? When can he hang out with other kids?

The answers didn’t surprise us but didn’t thrill us either. Dr. T told us she would not recommend plane travel for at least two years (with the caveat that two, although the age ofttimes given for various benchmarks related to preemies, is not a magic number, and that problems may persist beyond that age), that we should be staying out of public places not just through flu season but as long as he has the nasal cannula, not to mention it is supremely likely we’ll be isolation next flu season as well. She said he’d probably be a candidate again for Synagis. Eligibility for this vaccine against RSV is hard to come by, as the cost of one shot is in the ballpark of $1500. You need the shot monthly throughout flu season, and the dose – and therefore the cost – increases according to the weight of the child. For instance, this month Calder needed to be stuck twice to accommodate for his growth.

My view from the top

The only person Daddy wants to be twins with

Isolation has been tough. The only folks I talk to throughout my day are the bill collectors, my very kind colleagues who deal with my time and attendance at work (and that has been just a mess, figuring that out), and anyone even tangentially related to Medicaid (also a disaster and sometimes feeling like an exercise in futility.) The only outings we have together leave one of us outside with the baby while the other makes the transaction: purchases the prescription, checks out the eye glasses, etc. 

A worthwhile endeavor

Some days are tougher than others, but guess that’s just the way it is. One day last week I felt like I was doing everything wrong – knocking things over, breaking not inexpensive items, forgetting my head if it weren’t attached – and as I tried to calm Calder with the white noise of daytime television, this Johnson & Johnson commercial came on. In my sleep-deprived state, it didn’t take much to get me choked up. Of course, it’s all worth it, and I tell Calder every day how much I love him.