Information as of: 7/18/03

• Actual Age: 1 month and 15 days old (6 weeks 3 day)
• Gestational Age: 29 weeks and 3 day (this is how far along I am if I was still in my mommy's belly)
• Corrected Age: -2 months and 15 days (this is how old I am if I had been born on mommy's due date, Oct. 1 2003)
• Weight: 858 grams or about 1 pound 14 ounces
• Length: 31 cm (same as last update)
• Head Circumference: 23.5 cm (same as last update)
• Current Issues my doctors are working on:
  • Lungs:
    My vent settings have come down since the last post. My doctors think it is my inhailed steriods that I am taking! Right now, I am on fairly low support. Even though they are better than they used to be, I am still on the Conventional Vent. I will probably be on the vent till they fix my belly (see below). I currently have moderate-mild chronic lung disease. This means I will might have asthma when I get older and get colds easier. See, my lungs will keep growing till I am age 3! So, while I have immature lungs right now, I will have time to recover. My lungs will never look like other people's, but they will be normal for me! Mommy knows lots of kids with asthma who didn't have all the problems I do! So, if that is the only lasting effect, that isn't too bad!
  • Belly:
    My belly got a tear in it when my bowels stopped working because I had a bad infection! But, the doctors made me better from the infection and my tear healed itself. BUT, when I healed, I got a scar that is now blocking part of my bowels. So, now I will have to have surgery-- but luckily not for a few more weeks. I will be sick for awhile after the surgery, but I am a fighter and will fight hard afterwords. There is a chance that long term I will have trouble getting all my nutrition (short bowel syndrom) and mommy and daddy will have to make me eat a lot or my growth could be stunted! But, the surgery will otherwise fix my bowels so that when I am in kindergarten, I shouldn't be any different than my friends! The doctors are talking about setting the bowel surgery for the first week or so in August.
  • Heart:
    My heart had something called a PDA. This is really normal for preemies to have. In fact, if I was still in my mommy's belly, I would need my PDA. The PDA is an area in the heart that is supposed to be closed off by a muscle that after birth. But, my muscle likes to flap open every once and awhile and gives me a heart murmer (allowing blood to go where it is not supposed to go. Well, my PDA decided to start giving me some trouble the past few days and an eccocardiogram shows that my PDA had gotten bigger (moderate-large size). Today I had my surgery. It started at about 2:30pm and I got out about 4:30pm. The surgery was very sucessfull, there were no complications and I made it through the surgery just as the surgeons thought I would. They said my PDA was as big as my aorta (that means it was a big PDA)! It will take me several days to fully recover. The doctors say that I will need more ventilation support, so I might need more oxygen and even might need to go on the occilator for a little while (I hope not!). The doctors say the increased support is normal and that it is only temporary.
  • Brain:
    This is not really a problem! :) The chances of me having a brain problem was about 98%(like a Brain Bleed, something called PVL where your brain has holes in it, or cysts that cause Cerebral Palsy). And as of my last head ultrasound when I was 5 weeks old, I had a normal brain! The doctors and nurses call that a miracle. I could still develop some problems, but the chances that I would develop something is much lower now because I am so old! In fact, the doctor said he wouldn't even do another ultrasound of my head. He would only do another one if I start acting funny. I will still need some more time to catch up to other kids my age, but I still have a chance of catching up with my peers by around age 5 or 6.
  • Infections / Immune System:
    Well, the doctors don't know if I really had a staph infection when I was 5 weeks old like I told you about on the last update. I had a positive culture, but one doctor thinks that the culture was contaminated and the other doctor thinks I really had it! The good news is, that I don't have it anymore. All my subsequent cultures have been negative and I am acting like I feel better! Lets hope that I stay that way. Infections are not fun! The last infection I had (when I was 3-4 weeks old) was rare and called polly sepsis. This means that I had 2 different cutties at the exact same time (a type of staph and an ecoli). Most little guys like me don't make it through that kind of a hit- 2 bugs at once! But, I fought them off, though I scared my mommy and daddy real bad at one point.
  • Eyes:
    My eyes are open now! They were closed (fused shut) when I was born. I might have something called ROP. Lots of preemies have it. It means that I could be blind- but that most likely I will just have to have laser surgery and wear glasses. We don't know if I have ROP yet, I might not. But, I can see something! Mommy caught me looking at my hand today. I was wondering was it was and why it moved when I thought it should move! I had my first eye exam yesterday but the doctors couldn't tell anything because I am still too small. They said that little guys like me can take up to 10 weeks old to be able to see something, so my mommy and daddy shouldn't worry! Thay are going to give me an eye exam once a week till they can start seeing something!