It's a miracle!

Today was a day filled with the most wonderful news I have ever heard with Matthew. First let me start off by saying that during his 12:00 feeding today, he took 30 ml's by the bottle!!! (that's half of his feeds) and during his feeding, he only had one episode where he dropped his heart rate but he was able to come back up to normal pretty quickly! Then on top of that, the eye doctor came and examined him today and was extremely surprised at what he saw in his right eye, which is his bad eye. At this point, he expected the retina to be completely detached and curled up in a ball, but it wasn't!! As a matter of fact he said it looked like it was attached in most places, with very little detachment and it was FLAT!!! Flat is a really good thing and that is the way it is suppose to be! Considering how rapidly the Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) disease was progressing in that eye, there is no way his retina should still be attached at this point. I am telling you it is nothing but a miracle that his retina looks as good as it does. Praise God!!! There was however, some more blood in his left eye and the doctor didn't like it but he didn't seem to be too concerned for now.

In addition to this, the only way we know as much as we do about the retina is because the doctor was able to really see inside the eye for the first time since the lense had clouded up. Now I don't know if the lense is not as clouded as before or what the deal is, but I was really excited to know that he was able to get a good look into his eye. Unfortunately though, Matthew will still need to have surgery in that eye to remove the lense and to repair the areas where there is detachment. The doctor is currently trying to get time in the operating room before he goes on vacation (which I think is November 11 or 13). If he is able to get O.R. time before he goes then Matthew will stay in the hospital. If he can't get O.R. time before he goes on vacation then Matthew could possibly come home as early as the next few days!! (OH MY GOSH, WE ARE SO NOT READY!!!) I was so shocked when they told me that, that I was struck with absolute excitement and complete fear at the same time. They said that the only thing that is keeping him in the hospital at this point is his eyes and there is nothing they are doing in the hospital that we can't do at home.

At first Matthew was staying because of his eyes and liver issues, but the hide-a-scan results came back normal and they tested his bilirubin levels and they are coming back down. They were talking about doing a liver biopsy (another surgical procedure) but then decided against it and decided to monitor his bilirubin levels for awhile. They are running one more genetic test to see if he is deficient in producing a specific liver enzyme, but we will let you know when we get the results from that.

So at this point he could either be home really soon or stay in the hospital for another week or so, it all depends on whether or not the doctor can get time in the O.R. If he can't do the surgery before he goes on vacation and Matthew can't take his full feeds from a bottle, then he will come home with a feeding tube and we would be the ones to have to put it in him and continue to work with the bottle feedings until he gets it down. Because he drops his heart rate so significantly most of the time during feedings, he will have to come home on a monitor so we can watch him. I am praying so hard that he can take the full feeds from the bottle, because I really don't want to have to deal with trying to put a feeding tube in him and worry about whether or not it is going into his stomach, or if the feeding tube ended up in his lungs...as it is Matthew will be coming home on oxygen and will probably have to be on oxygen for up to a year or so they said.

Anyway, please keep praying for Matthew's feeding progress so he doesn't have to come home on a feeding tube and pray that he doesn't have drops in his heart rate during his feedings. Please also pray for the right timing of the eye surgery. Pray that we can get eveything done before he comes home. (i.e. thoroughly cleaning the house by dusting, steam cleaning carpets and removing anything that could possibly irritate his lungs, disinfecting everything, having Jason finish his dresser that he is building for him, etc) We know your prayers are working, so please keep praying! Thank you all so very very much for everything...we'll continue to keep you updated as soon as we know anything.