Day 72- Feb 3 - Superbowl Sunday
It's been quite a while since an update, but it's been crazy with doctor's appointments, shots, arguing with Aetna, and in between all that, getting some routine set up at home. Aidan finally did get his next booster for RSV - a respiratory infection that can land a baby in the hospital or at worst case, cause death. It was only 12 days late and took many phone calls to Aetna including threatening to sue the company for delay of care if Aidan got sick. Apparently Aetna is getting its bad karma back though because we just received the copy of the overall bill from the 6 week hospital stay that was sent to Aetna. It's just over $170,000. Aetna called to see if we had any other insurance covering us and Mommy laughed to herself as she told them no. Now, hopefully they pay it.
Otherwise the news has been good. Aidan is now up over 8 pounds. He's eating quite well and staying awake for longer periods during the day. He's still a little anemic, but his blood cell count is on the rise and he's scheduled for a couple more shots of Pro-Crit this week to help kick his bone marrow up to normal cell production levels. After we fix this, the doctor says he'll consider Aidan a normal healthy child.
Aidan also has one more appointment with the opthamologist this week. This is a scary appointment to witness because you can't ask a baby to keep his eyes open and expect a result. They have to insert this wire frame that hold the eyelids open so the doctor can see the blood vessels at the back of the eye. It looks like something out of a horror movie and Aidan's not pleased to go through it, but at least it's pretty quick. That doctor says he doesn't see any sign of ROP (another common problem with preemies), but he wants to check after his due date.
Oh yeah, Aidan's due date was January 29th - this past Tuesday. With preemies, they have their regular age and their adjusted age. Adjusted age is what is used to judge development physically and mentally. Adjusted age starts at the due date so Aidan is officially 5 days old now. Yay! He's doing quite well for 5 days old.