3 October

Max had his eye test update today. Just to reiterate his eye history - he was diagnosed with ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity) This is a condition which is quite common in prem babies, and was a major cause of blindness in premmies into the 30s and 40s. The last 16 weeks of gestation are when the blood vessels in the eyes develop, and if baby is born earlier than 37 weeks, the development of these blood vessels stop. Premmies usually require extra oxygen in order to survive, but unfortuniately one side-effeect is that the extra and prolonged use of oxygen can damage the development of these little blood vessels attached to the retine. (This is why the study Max is on, called the BOOST study, is so important. It aims to even further narrow the parameters by which oxygen is administered - hopefully not only helping babies to breathe, but maybe reducing the other side effects like ROP as well.

Have a look at this really good summary of ROP to find out more: http://www.lowvision.org/retinopathy_of_prematurityxx.htm Max had Stage 3 ROP, in both eyes, which was operated on with laser surgery. (You can tick off the 'risk factors' for Max if you like - he had seven out of the 13 listed factors!)

About a month or so after he came home, we noticed he was going cross-eyed quite often, and in particular his right eye seemed to be a bit 'lazy'. So, we asked about it, and the hospital brought his eye checkup forward a month. We went in today and he was a very good little boy - sat still, looked ahead at the lights, didn't cry when he had his drops (which dilate the pupils, making it easier for the ophthalmologist to see into the structure of the eye), and he charmed everyone. Once the first doctor had had a look, she called for Dr John (who actually checks out the babies in the Unit) to have a look as well. He finished up, then looked at me, and said - "he's short-sighted. Come back in six months, we'll reassess then, but it will have to be treated." My stomach plummeted as I envisioned more surgery. I asked what sort of 'treatment', and he said "glasses".
Well! We can cope with glasses!!

Actually, the more I thought about it, the sadder I got. Poor wee mite. Those beautiful eyes. I know it could be much worse, and still could be, (His eyes could still degenerate) but glasses really are OK. We're going to buy some baby sunglasses (we were going to anyway) and hopefully get him used to the idea of something on his face (again) before the real ones arrive.