Prepping for his MRI

We're back at Memorial Hermann for Jack Henry to get an MRI of his left eye. His opthamologists (Dr. Hintner and Dr. Wittenberg) want to find out what's going on with his left eye.

We're hoping for the best, but it's always an anxious time when you're talking about sedating a newborn and putting through a lengthy (and not quiet) exam. In the least, the exam shouldn't be too taxing on him since it's non-invasive and the nurses and techs have been great so far.

The harder logistical challenge is that JH has to go NPO (without food or drink) for an extended period of time. His last feeding was at 9:30AM and he may not be able to eat until 2PM or later, which would be longest stretch for him by far.


UPDATE: The radiologist didn't see anything really acute or anything to be alarmed about or the doctor would have requested another doctor's consult or to have JH admitted immediately.


UPDATE #2: According to JH's pediatrician, nothing showed up on the MRI to be concerned about. We're waiting for further feedback or confirmation from his opthamologists. :)

Stylin' and profilin'

Jack Henry had a consult today with Dr. Wittenberg as referred by Dr. Hittner. Dr. Hittner is the foremost expert in pediatric opthamology in North America and it's a luxury to have access to her talents through the Memorial Hermann NICU as she is also a professor with the UT-Houston med school. Dr. Wittenberg is an expert in infectious ocology and other "rare" things, which you will read in a moment to understand why we were referred to her.

Dr. Hittner performed her post-NICU discharge on Monday as she is following a hemorrage in his left eye near the macula.

Originally during Dr. Hittner's initial exam when JH was one month old, she saw a slight tear (hemorrage) in the upper part of the left eye that looked like it was in the process of resolving itself as the blood was dry in the area. In her first follow-up when JH was two months old, Dr. Hittner observed that the original hemorrage was resolved, but a new one (or one that may have been previously obscured by the original hemorrage) appeared close to the macula. While these hemorrages are expected to self-resolve by the tear site closing up and healing, it's possible that damage can occur. The macula is what provides acuity of our vision (i.e. whether we see 20/20 or not). This new hemorrage was tentatively diagnosed as a perimacula or peripapallery.

As a result of this assessment, the main concern from the new hemorrage was that Jack Henry may have some loss of vision (mainly depth perception and possibly not being able to get the vision in the left eye better than 20/70 even with corrective lens). This possible vision impairment would be related to the natural progression of how the eyes develop or mature after birth. For example, if one eye had something temporarily impact focusing and general vision, then the brain would compensate to strengthen the other eye, which may or may not be a permanent imbalance in vision between the two eyes.

Ahhh, so now we're finishing up with Dr. Wittenberg. Dr. Hittner sent us for a consult with Dr. Wittenberg because there was concern as to what may be floating in the viscous part of the eye (the jelly-like area or the main body of the eye). The object floating in the eye looked similar to a possible parasite - thankfully, it was NOT that - which could have been a source of the new hemorrage. Instead, it appears that the object in the viscous is just a large (relatively-speaking) clump of dried blood.

Yet, it appears that there may be fresh blood trailing down near the optic nerve. Fortunately, according to Dr. Wittenberg the macula looks good and the optic nerve appears not to be swollen or irritated.

Due to the fresh blood though, both doctors are concerned as to where the source of this small bleeding may be since it is not appearing in a place that they would expect.. As a result, Jack Henry is having an MRI of his eyes ordered for him.

Poor little guy - he handles all of the poking and prodding so well. He's quite the chilled out kid. Yet, having people put there fingers in his eyes to give him the dilation drops is hard on him. Honestly, every doctor and nurse is gentle, but the eye drops are not his favorite thing in the least. With the MRI, Jack Henry will be sedated, so we'll have to how that works out for him. Hopefully, a simple diagnosis will be easily found so that we can stop worrying.

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Oh - as for the picture... his eyes were dilated again and the lights in the building were bright as well as the outside, so what do you do, but get the cool shades from the doc?

If a picture is worth 1,000 words ...

... then the following link is worth at least 2,629,000 words and counting!

Yes, all of the pictures from Jack Henry's 65 days in the NICU as well as his time since coming home have been uploaded to our new SmugMug site. You can get to the pictures through either of the following links:

http://www.stephenrwhite.com
http://stephenrwhite.smugmug.com


We will also begin loading the rest of our family pictures and videos to SmugMug so that we can reminisce over the carefree and plentiful-sleep PK days (PK = pre-kid). ;)

Note: If you see a picture that you like, you can actually order a copy of that picture for a cost 19 cents. I have not personally done this yet, so let me know in the comments if it works out well for you.

I'm a chunky little teapot, short and stout

Now announcing this morning's heavyweight fight...

In this corner, weighing in at a hefty 7 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches tall, Jack "Attack" Henry White!!!

And in the opposite corner, his parents, who in their most recent bout lost to sleep deprivation.

This should be a quick K.O. by Jack Henry, but we'll see if the tag-team duo of Elaine "Delivering the Pain" and Stephen "Kinda Even" can match the endurance and power of JH.

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Yup, as you can above - JH has put on another 10 ounces and a 1/4 inch over the last week.

Whew! He's growing!

Mmm... coffee

JH likes a Triple Venti Nonfat Halfwhip Double Pump Upside-down Caramel Macchiato with EBM* to chase down his bottle feeding.

(*EBM = expressed breast milk)

Yums!

First Starbucks experience

JH has finished his doctor's appointment with flying colors and now he gets his first Starbucks experience. Ha!

Or at least his parents do!

First doctor's appointment

JH is getting his first check-up this morning. We didn't want to scare another doctor, so no big camera pix (only camera phone).

Yet, Jack Henry is becoming a chunky monkey as he weighed in at 6 lbs 11 oz and his length remained the same (19 3/4 inches). I suppose we are going to be weened off of the metric system for he measurements. ;)

And if Jack Henry is going to visit his doctor, he can at least enjoy the view from his appointment room... time to watch the LifeFlight helicopter take off!

Jack Henry arrives home (safely)!

JH is home now and the cats have no idea what to think! :)

Jack Henry has left the building

Time to go home!

Instead of goodbye, Jack Henry and his parents say "Until we see you again soon (over wine and dinner!)" to our wonderful NICU friends.

Since my Daddy's not been posting lately...

Whew!

My parents have been looking a little bit long in the tooth lately. I suppose that must mean that I need to hurry up and finish my time up in the NICU soon.

The biggest indication that it's time for me to go is the lack posting on the blog here. My Daddy and I have discussed numerous blog topics and I know that he's worked on many of them, but alas, nothing has happened recently. My suspicion is that my Mommy and Daddy are either staying up way too late by hanging out with me in the NICU until near about midnight each night or all of the new activities that I'm doing is now part of their responsibility to take care... like feeding me and changing me and burping me.

As a matter of fact, at times, I wonder if they're the ones who need a warm bottle, a burp and a nap.

Well since today is my 2 month birthday, when my Daddy was resting his eyes (like he says), I snuck over and borrowed his camera. Darn thing is heavy, but I figured out how to use it to take the picture below and post this image for you. Hopefully, more posts will come, but that may be the biggest mystery next to when I may be coming home.


PS: Trust me - it's not easy to set up the camera, turn on the timer, scamper back to my bed, reswaddle and pose for the said picture within 15 seconds, but I managed just for you!