Little Eyes

I'm actually writing this post in the All Children's Family Waiting Room. Kyle is undergoing laser eye surgery right now for Retinopathy of Prematurity.

While I visited Kyle yesterday, they were prepping him for his eye exam with eye drops. After I left, Dr. Mendelblatt (the opthamologist) checked his eyes and called me immediately to say that Kyle's eyes had gotten progressively worse since the eye exam a week before and he would need laser eye surgery. Without the surgery, Kyle could completely lose vision in both eyes due to retina detatchment so Chris and I decided to approve the surgery. Once they finish this surgery, Kyle will be back in the incubator with a breathing tube temporarily - just to help his recovery.

On a happier note, Kyle was moved over the weekend from "Pod #1" of the NICU (which is where they put the more critical patients) to "Pod #4" (where they put patients who are almost ready for discharge!).


Before the eye exam yesterday, I was holding Kyle and he was showing me his wide range of emotional facial expressions. He would show me his most heart-breaking frown and then transition straight into a huge grin. He even laughed and gave a tiny little cry while I was there. The nurse had also told me that if his repiratory rates had been a little lower, they would have tried him on breastfeeding.

Smile

Kyle was so happy that Daddy was holding him...

3 Months Old

Kyle's been doing great! They've taken his nasal cannula (that's the little tube that sticks up his nose) settings down to the minimum. This week, they're weaning him off the three breathing treatments that he's been on and they'll start him on bottle/breast feeding in a couple days! He's up to 5lbs, 4oz in weight. We still don't know how much longer it will be before we can bring him home but at least it's looking more like sooner than later. Now we just need to work on getting the apartment ready for bringing him home. We still only live in a two-bedroom but we seem to have enough furniture for at least three.

In other news, I have decided to pursue a career in Non-Invasive Cardiovascular Technology (EKGs, Echo Cardiographs, etc.) at Sanford-Brown Institute in Tampa. All that has happened with Kyle & Eric has seemed to be pushing me into the medical field and this is a way I can get into the medical field without having to stick needles into anyone. Plus, living in Florida, cardiovascular technicians make pretty good money because of the large elderly population in need of EKGs on a regular basis. The program will only take a year and four months to complete and they said that they let students bring in family members to practice on. So I could bring Kyle in and see for myself what Pulmonary Artery Calcification looks like and learn more about it. While I'm in school for this, it's going to take a lot of sacrifice of time and money but once I'm done I'll have a career that can make things a lot easier in the future.

Meanwhile, everything's been going well for me at Nielsen and now that my mom's working there, she and I are able to spend time together on our breaks.

Sunday Swing

Last Sunday night (10/1), Raneasha and I went swing dancing again - this time at Zendah Grotto Swing Sunday in Tampa. It turned out that there were a couple of special guests that night. One was Norma Miller, a pioneer in the Lindy Hop style of dance from back in the days of Swingin' at the Savoy. The other was Bill Cobbs, movie star! Norma Miller was actually in town working on a documentary of her life.