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The Boy in the Bubble
I'm half-heartedly watching an episode of "American Experience" on PBS about The Boy in the Bubble. It's a fascinating subject, I just can't bear to watch that much television. So I'm half listening and half doing other things, like updating my resume.
I have such mixed feelings about some of the "heroic" measures that some doctors take with special needs kids. I'm sure I could feel differently if I were in that situation, but for now, it just makes me nervous. I mean, this kid was trapped in this plastic playroom because doctors promised his parents a cure for his immunodeficiency and then couldn't do it.
I see the same thing with some of the micro-preemies that are in my program. One of my clients is a former 21-weeker and it is just amazing and staggering to think about all of the interventions that were performed to keep her alive. And then who knows what the long-term effects are going to be? She's 6 months old now and looks/acts like a 3 month old, so it's hard to tell. There are soooo many things that can go wrong with micro-preemies.
Some countries won't even attempt to intervene on babies born before a certain time, like 24 or 26 or 28 weeks. As a clinician I can see the reasoning, but as a parent? What if we get pregnant and have a micro-preemie? Will I be singing the same tune?
Sometimes I think too much.
I have such mixed feelings about some of the "heroic" measures that some doctors take with special needs kids. I'm sure I could feel differently if I were in that situation, but for now, it just makes me nervous. I mean, this kid was trapped in this plastic playroom because doctors promised his parents a cure for his immunodeficiency and then couldn't do it.
I see the same thing with some of the micro-preemies that are in my program. One of my clients is a former 21-weeker and it is just amazing and staggering to think about all of the interventions that were performed to keep her alive. And then who knows what the long-term effects are going to be? She's 6 months old now and looks/acts like a 3 month old, so it's hard to tell. There are soooo many things that can go wrong with micro-preemies.
Some countries won't even attempt to intervene on babies born before a certain time, like 24 or 26 or 28 weeks. As a clinician I can see the reasoning, but as a parent? What if we get pregnant and have a micro-preemie? Will I be singing the same tune?
Sometimes I think too much.
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And yeah, I'm pretty sure she's the earliest in our program. (I win!!) I used to have a former 24weeker and this girl wins.
She's doing remarkably well, I have to say. I'm pleasantly surprised.
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And I totally agree that rationally I'm not sure heroic measures are always a good idea, but I'm not sure I would feel that way if it was MY kid who needed a lot of intervention.
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Exactly. On a logical level I am hesitant to perform such heroic measures. But my kid? I think it would be hard to say, "Don't try," when there's obviously a /chance/.