Breaking the streak

Through the first 55 days of Woody's life, only one person has seen him each and every day (me!), but that streak has to come to an end today. I have some kind of bizarre illness* that I can't quite place, and the fever is enough to convince me to stay away from the hospital. This makes me very sad, but I know it's the best thing to do to not knowingly expose him to any possible illnesses, as his lil' immune system is just too immature to fight off anything nasty.

Woody had his eye exam today, and we got a report from the eye doctor on a pre-prepared form with choices like "Your baby has advanced Retinopathy of Prematurity and therefore we need to immediately go to surgery" and "Your baby is totally A-OK". Woody got designated something very ambiguous like "Your baby's eyes are still developing and may be at risk of later ROP but we can't tell right now so we'll be back to bill your insurance again in two weeks." We also got a very nice and extremely glossy brochure from the Association for Retinopathy of Prematurity and Related Diseases (ROPARD), which details the things that happen during ROP. I must note, cynically, that the brochure was paid for by the company that makes the lasers for laser treatment of ROP.

The upshot of this, however, is that there is no looming surgery now that will prevent us from making an extubation attempt next week. We remain on track for Tuesday, we think, although the doctor(s) are definitely not setting that as a set-in-stone sort of day. We're really looking forward to the brief moment after extubation where we can actually see his face, as we've never seen him without the masses of tape to hold the tube in place. Of course, the system he'll go on immediately after that won't be any better for facial visibility, as he will go on a CPAP mask that will cover up his nose entirely. But at least we'll be able to see his mouth, and he'll get to try to start suckling and that sort of thing. We're very excited.

*Maggie thinks it's the flu. I don't think so, primarily because of the distinct lack of phlegm balls. I was joking around for a bit about having West Nile Fever, but after looking it up, I think it really could be what I have (fatigue, muscle soreness, fever). Which is good in one sense because it wouldn't be contagious to Woody. But I'm staying away until the fever breaks for good.