One more move

Two days in a row for the blog! Its not exactly a Cal Ripken streak, but you have to start somewhere.

Much like a military brat, Thomas has once again moved. The nurses are having to play musical isolets to accommodate new visitors and deal with construction. Thomas is now in the South wing in Nursery D, in the corner. Its nice because its more spacious than the the last nursery and we're told that Thomas will not have to move again. Of course moving can always be very traumatic for children and I'm sure Thomas will be no exception, saying goodbye to old friends, trying to make new ones, new school system, and don't get me started on trying to get him onto the right soccer team this late in the season.

Thomas had his eye exam today and to be honest, it was not great. He has R.O.P. (which apparently does not stand for Rock On Preemie). R.O.P. is an overgrowth of blood vessels, typically caused by all the extra oxygen that he's been given. It can effect your peripheral and/or central vision. He's at a stage 3 with a possibility of retinal detachment. This isn't really that uncommon with preemies, but it wasn't news we wanted. Over the next 48 hours we will be deciding between surgery and injections. The surgery involves lasering the blood vessels and hoping that they don't grow back, which can happen and require further lasering.

The thing that we learned with the injections (and we don't know that much yet about the procedure) is that its really new. Apparently Baylor is only one of two hospitals trying this, so the long term effects aren't fully known. The good thing with the injections is it is a drug, Avastin, that has been used for other purposes (cancer treatment I believe) for a long time. The benefit of the injections is it would be less traumatic than the surgery. As I mentioned yesterday(?), Rebecca met the parents of a child who has just gone through the injections procedure successfully. We'll let you know.