Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Eye Surgery

Today the girls had their eye exams, by their pediatric ophthalmologist Dr. David Coats of Texas Children's Hospital. He seems to be a nice friendly guy, and most importantly he is a very reputable pediatric ophthalmologist. Little Rachel's eye exam reveled ROP which is extremely common in premature babies. ROP is Retinopathy of Prematurity, basically ROP is a problem with the way the blood vessels develop on the surface of the retina. When a baby is born prematurely these blood vessels are immature like the rest of the baby. In some premature infants the blood vessels start to grow the wrong way. Instead of branching like a tree the vessels link up side to side and in some cases grow away from the retina towards the center of the eye. The severity of ROP is graded from stage one to stage five. Stage one is the mildest and stage five the most severe. Rachel is a stage three. Dr. Coats explained that Rachel would have to have laser surgery tomorrow to try and correct the problem. He told me that he has been doing these laser surgeries now since 2003 and it has worked on all except for one of his babies. We are nervous, but he made us feel better by telling us that. We will hope and pray for the best and except what ever the Lord wants for her. She is a little fighter she will pull through this. Haley seems to have had a pretty good day today. Her eye exam didn't show ROP yet, but the eye doctor said she will most likely need the laser surgery in the future. Dr. Thompson decided to start her back on breast milk for the first time since before her surgery. She did have a little poop come from her ostomy, which is a good sign. Haley is finally getting fed a small amount of breast milk! Yay for Haley! We hope all goes well and she will be pooping as well as Rachel. Thomas and I got to change Rachel's diaper this evening and she gave us a big poopy diaper. After I got a new diaper on her she pooped even more so I had to change her again. That little stinker! We love it!

16 comments:

  1. Little Rachel really didn't need that! i know she will be just fine. you have a great doctor and its good that they caught it now and that there is a remedy..

    Haley darlin' you just keep up the good work! so glad you get breast milk! my daddy used to say that it cured all kinds of problems! (He was born in 1892 - been gone for 21 years) he was so proud of mama for nursing all eight of her babies.. and it runs in the family.

    Rachel, bet your mom never looked forward to poopy like this before!

    thank you for sharing your precious little girls and their adventures with us. you know your family is pretty large now, don't you ;-)

    love you all!! Erma, Midvale, Utah

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  2. It is obvious you are strong and well intentioned, and I understand your religious views. I have been reading every post since well before the babies were born, and I am pulling for them.

    In my opinion God doesn't punish those who choose selective reduction when faced with this situation, and I feel bad for the health problems these babies are going through. I know they'll flourish, on their own schedules. But it does make me sad, they've been handed a rough start in life.

    Please don't read this the wrong way, I am very much in awe of your faith and hoping for the best. But every time I see you have written a new post, my heart skips a beat. I say "oh please let them be okay, what now?"

    I am sure you must feel the same, whenever they have a new test administered, or a new scan, or a new examination.

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  3. My son, at 2 months old, had the ROP laser surgery this past February while he was in the NICU. He developed ROP Stage 3/Zone 2 with early Plus disease in both eyes. The surgery seemed quick and he was back to his little self the very next day. Five days later and his ROP was officially regressing.

    He also had ostomies, but never pooped before his intestines were reconnected (He had an additional blockage as we would later find out.) - he was on TPN the entire time between the 2 disconnect/reconnect surgeries.

    I haven't read too many of the comments you've received on this blog, but I hope and pray you don't get many "haters" posting their opinions about how you should have handled YOUR pregnancy and planned YOUR family on your blog. Let it roll off your backs... you guys have been through enough already.

    Hang in there, and be strong for your little girls. You both are doing a great job!

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  4. Great to hear that little Haley's ostomy is working! Way to go! We waited for almost four weeks (and had 2 surgeries in between) before our daughter's ileostomy started functioning. The current treatment for ROP is very good so I am sure both girls will be fine in that regard.

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  5. How much more can these babies endure? They have gone through so much. It seems like everyday there is a new issue. I totally understand what this family is going through as I had two extremely early preemies in the NICU at two different times. I guess lucky for us their path was not as bad as these babies. Somehow it does not seem right that they are still somewhat suffering. They turn about for them needs to come soon.

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  6. Lol, it's so great to be happy about poopy diapers!!! I'm so glad to hear they've started breastmilk feeds again for Haley, that's a good sign! I pray that little Rachel's eye surgery goes well. It seems like a standard procedure, so I'm sure everything will go according to plan. Your girls are getting closer each day to coming home with you, how exciting!!!


    Praying for you always,

    Christina McKinney

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  7. My girls also have ROP - my one Noel has stage 5 ROP and i just found out last week both retinas are completley detached now - but she is amazing anyways - my other daughter her twin - had ROP stage 3 and the surgery worked great for her - she is all over the place. Noel had a rough start too well all three of mine did - lil Evey went to heaven - and Noel had the NEC- PDA, 6 eye surgeries - and so much more - but she is here and living proof that God, see's all. Good Luck lil Rachel with your surgery.

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  8. I've followed your blog and posted periodically when I hear about your babies going through the same things mine experienced. Once again, that is the case here as my micropreemie twins (23w5d) both had ROP. My son had two laser surgeries in each eye and my daughter was expected to need it but made a sudden improvement and ended up not needing it. They both have okay vision now. My son started wearing glasses when he was 2 years old and my daughter started a few months ago at 3.5 years old. My kids also both had ostomies (with Dr. Bloss) and the other complications Haley and Rachel have encountered, and they didn't get to come home from the NICU until a month after their due date, but they are now healthy kids. It won't be long before you're able to same the same about your little miracles.

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  9. Dear Amanda,

    Dr. Coats is an outstanding pediatric ophthalmalogist. He did our son's eye surgery as well. He has a great deal of expertise in ROP. It is a wonderful blessing for you that she only has Stage 3 ROP considering her prematurity at birth. I wrote you yesterday about my twin daughters who were 13 weeks early in 2006. My son was right on time but has struggled with vision issues. You are in great hands with Dr. Coats.

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  10. Good job Haley (lol)! Rachel, you will be just fine! Amanda and Thomas, don't worry too much about ROP/laser surgery. This is very common and easily resolved. Little Rachel will do great. All my love, Claudia

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  11. Good job Haley!!! Dr. Coates is an EXCELLENT doctor. Rachel will be in the best hands possible! Glad to hear everything else is going well!

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  12. My daughter (a 25 weeker) had ROP surgery 3 weeks before discharge. Looking back it was a piece of cake but I know how you feel. She'll be fine!

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  13. i just love Claudia and Christina you are so sweet!

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  14. I know God is looking after your girls and Rachel will do just fine tomorrow. happy to hear Haley is improving. YOur blogs are such a wonderful testimony to your faith thank you for continuing to write them.

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  15. Both my boys had the ROP surgery. I can't remember all details of it. I know they were both stage 3 I believe. My daughter came home from the hospital the day before their surgery. So had a lot on my plate at the time and that it has been over three years can't remember much. Both boys were fine with their eyes after the surgery. Maddie had stage 2 but didn't need surgery as they corrected them selfs but earlier this year she did have muscle surgery on both eyes due to they started crossing basically over night. We tried glasses and also eye drop in her good eye trying to make her bad eye stronger. Neither of them worked but the eye surgery did. I also remember getting so excited when they started pooping and praying for the longest time that they would poop. I think Maddie had her ostomy a good week before she started pooping. I will be saying my prayers for you guys.

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  16. More needless complications that might have been avoided if you had taken the doctors' advice.

    Those poor babies. I've worked with preemies for years and I know that sometimes you can't avoid these things. (I was a preemie as well.) But many times- you can! I can't help but think of all the needless suffering these kiddos have gone through. Night after night in an isolette instead of mommy's safe tummy or safe in her arms, surgery after surgery, being intubated (if you think that doesn't hurt- you try living that way for 2 1/2 months), wires, IVs...

    It just makes me so sad.

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