Retinal Detachment Scare!! Please read if you have children Prone

Normark

Normark

Joined
Nov 7, 1999
Messages
6,651
Hey Guys...

We just spent the entire day in hospital with our daughter..

This is a Reminder for all of the parents out there who have children who are prone to retinal detachment.

A little history.

Our children were born premature at 25 weeks, micro prems at just over 1lb ea. and have retinopathy of prematurity or ROP

Explanation of ROP

"Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a potentially blinding eye disorder that primarily affects premature infants weighing about 2¾ pounds (1250 grams) or less that are born before 31 weeks of gestation (A full-term pregnancy has a gestation of 38–42 weeks). The smaller a baby is at birth, the more likely that baby is to develop ROP. This disorder—which usually develops in both eyes—is one of the most common causes of visual loss in childhood and can lead to lifelong vision impairment and blindness. ROP was first diagnosed in 1942."


Our children are at VERY high risk of Retinal Detachment, so they are closely watched and coached to tell us of any vision problems that they may have..


Two days ago my daughter (6) came to my wife complaining about seeing a hair in her eye.. We looked at it,, did several quick tests and everything seemed Ok.

Next day same thing, however on the third day of complaint, and it seemed to be getting worse, we rushed her to our local hospital. There is perhaps a 24 hour window between having the retina re-attached to losing the eye.

As it was already 10:30 this was our only recourse as our eye surgeon is 2 hours away. They had a quick look, didn't see anything, so we decided to take the long trek in the morning to see the surgeon.

We have an open door poilcy as with any child with ROP, so we can walk right in and be looked at immediately..

Well after seeing 5 doctors and 4 very detailed eye examinations we were told that her retina was fine, however she had a Vitreous Hemmorhage in her eye, which basically is blood vessles in the eye that had burst and causes bleeding within the eye.

For now she is Ok, however we have to keep a very close eye on her and do several tests daily to make sure it isn't getting worse.

I just wanted to post this as a reminder to you parents out there that have children with ROP( There must be Some) to take it very seriously and listen to your children when they tell you they have problems seeing,, or see funny things in their eyes...

Bells and Whistles should be going off if they tell you these things...

Take the steps needed to get them looked at properly

Thanks for your time...

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
God bless ya brother.

There is nothing more chillling than the thought of a recurrence of a childhood illness.

About 2 weeks ago my oldest (4yo.) came down with what we thought was a simple cold. Went on longer than we would have liked and we took her to the doctor. A few days later fearing dehydration we ended up in the ER and things went from bad to worse.

Turned out she had a viral punamonia ( I must have spelled that wrong but you get the point) and her lungs were congested to the point that she wasn't getting enough oxygen.

Now the scary part was that she has Downs syndrome and a history of cardiac problems that ended at open heart bypass when she was about a year old, so they automaticlly assume its a recurrence of her heart issues.

Five days in Childrens hospital, oyygen, steroids, antibiotics and some TLC and shes back to her brattie little self but it was quite a scare.

I wish you the best and can relate to what you went through. Keep up the good work and love those kids the best you can. I try to never forget the gift I was given of modern medicine that kept her alive.:D
 
Hope she's OK now Eric, retinal detachment runs in my family, one Uncle had to have surgery more than once for it.

Take your little troopers out and spoil them rotten guys!
 
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