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BDx13
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Now that a year has passed, I have an announcement
Some of you may recall that last spring I took a bit of a hiatus from the Thorp Board. Since then, there have been very few references to the reason
why that hiatus occurred, but now that are looking up ?really up- I?ve got an official announcement to make (however belated it may be)...
On April 25, 2004, my wife gave birth to our first child, Sadie Olivia. She was born at 12:31PM, coming in at 12? and a whopping 1.5lb.
Yes, you read correctly; a pound and a half. Instead of staying in the ol? belly for nine months like a good girl, she decided to punk Mom and Dad
and make her arrival after a mere six months. That?s 25 weeks gestation instead of 40. Hellooooo undercooked!
I swear, the three months that followed were the longest of my life. Sadie was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the hospital living in a
plastic box, tubes and wires everywhere, getting poked with needles and put under the knife. Heart surgery? Check. Kidney infection? Check. Liver
failure? Check. Apnea? Multiple checks every day. (How many times can a parent watch their child stop breathing and turn blue?) It was an hour
commute to the hospital each way every day. And once we got there, we were always being pulled away from her bedside for daily meetings with doctors,
consent forms, tests, more consent forms, more tests.
At first, we didn?t say anything to anyone other than our parents primarily because we didn?t know if she would live. No need to tell the world you
had a baby one day, then have to tell them all she?s dead the next. (Morbid and pessimistic, I realize, but practical all the same.) Once we did
start telling people, it?s all anyone ever wanted to talk about. I was so tired of answering the same questions over and over, I built a website for
her so friends and family could read updates and see photos and videos. I never posted anything here about it because it was nice to have someplace
to go to talk about things other than the baby?s health.
My cousin Thorp knew, and was a tremendous support, especially early on when I was dealing with some misguided emotions. Moron picked me up at the
hospital in July for the drive out to the YOT reunion in PA, so he was in on it. Todd and Rennie were in regular contact and offered plenty of
aggressive music to keep me going (and they both seem to be awake 23 hours a day, so it helped that they were on my schedule).
Sadie was finally discharged on July 26, 92 days after she was born, and one week before her original due date. At the time, she was still tiny at
4.5 pounds. The first few months at home were scary. She was a pretty strong breather by then, but she choked a lot. Lots of appointments with
specialists, and therapists still come four times a week. We?ve had three trips to the ER, and one week-long admission. It?s been quite a fucking
challenge and one hell of a scene around the Miller house.
Anyway, Sadie?s first birthday is next week, and all in all she?s doing outstanding. It took her a while to shake some of her preemie issues, but for
the most part, she is good to go. She's happy, she's healthy, she's QUIET! 17 pounds and 27 inches as of last week. That puts her (ever so
slightly) in the range of ?average? height and weight for a one year old, a goal her pediatrician set when we first brought her home.
So there you have it. More than you ever wanted to know about my personal life, and just about everything my wife and I have been living for the past
year.
This first photo was taken when she was a week old and still about 1.5lb.
The second was taken on Easter, so she was 11 months and about 16lbs.
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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BDx13
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Oh, and to celebrate her birthday and to support the efforts of those doing research to help "extreme preemies" like Sadie, the Miller family will be
participating in the March of Dimes WalkAmerica event in NYC this Sunday. If you would like to help out, you can visit this site: http://www.walkamerica.org/teamsadie
Interestingly, there are several families in the NYHC scene who have been through similar situations and will be walking on Sunday as well.
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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DAK
Posting Freak
Posts: 3507
Registered: 5-13-2004
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Thats rough. I am glab you daughter is doing well.
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moron
Posting Freak
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Good to hear she's doing well. I actually stumbled upon your website for her and was browsing through the pictures and reading some of the blog
entries. Mrs. Moron was doing a clinical at a NICU around that time. Different hospital we think... I dont remember what she had said.
Interestingly enough, my sister just gave birth to a preemie, but she was only 4 weeks early and her stay in the hospital was for maybe a week.
Im suprised I didnt spill the beans on here earlier.
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Killthehumans
Senior Member
Posts: 597
Registered: 12-1-2004
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Mood: simon and garfunkal
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she is a cute looking kid, keep it up big d.
just take a look at the papers
your leaders
they\'re killers
they\'re liars
what they do in your
name to make the bodies pile higher
the murders, the terror
they\'ve done it forever
as we sit band and smile
at the script they sell us
but now the victims, they\'re rising
their numbers\'s multiplying
they want their revenge for the years
that they\'ve been dying
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jonnynewbreed
Posting Freak
Posts: 1091
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Mood: Quite nice actually.
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Thank god duane. I'm really glad to hear that everything is OK now.
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gavin
Posting Freak
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duane,
this post made me tear up.
for real.
i am a parent of 2 with another on the way in october.
you and your wife are very strong and i am so happy for you that everything went and is going well.
you and your wife should be commended for coming through such a hard thing like that
i cant imagine
she is beautiful by the way.
this really made my day.
u2u me and we can talk parent shit anytime ya want.
you come at the king....you best not miss
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defstarsteve
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Dude I am so happy that she is okay...
I have 2 myself and I know if my kids get a scratch I freak out..
you are a strong man my friend, and the respect runs deep
you need anything you let me know
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newbreedbrian
Posting Freak
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wow. thats a hell of a year duane. im glad we gave you a little distraction once in awhile. congrats to you and your wife, she's a cutie.
The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, ?You know, I want to set those people over there on
fire, but I?m just not close enough to get the job done.? George Carlin
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Jeff trhe Greek
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My daughter was delivered three weks early cuz she was breech but she was fine, I can't even begin to imagine what you went through, I don't know how
I would handle it. She's a cutie, all the best to you and your family, give em a big hug.
p.s. you know she's a fighter.
Don\'t blame me, I voted for Kodos.
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clevohardcore
* Kick\'n ass on the wild side *
Posts: 12937
Registered: 9-19-2004
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Mood: Sick Of It All, Youth Of Today
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My wife and I are expecting our first child around the end of September early Oct. In three weeks We will find out if it's a boy or girl. I am very
hyped about this and what fatherhood will make me become.
Duane. What you have already went through and still are is amazing. It takes the right person to deal with these issues and weather a storm like this.
I wish the very best to you and your family. And to the real trooper Sadie. She has great parents. The Thorp board is with you guys.
Each aspect of the soul has it's own part to play, but the ideal is harmonious agreement with reason and control.
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GabeTexasGAMC
* GROWN *
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Location: Texas
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Christ...
Im happy that everything ended well in the Miller house old dude.
My son was 3 months old when we took him to the hospital and needed to be flew out 200 miles away to a childrens hospital for stomach surgery. Most
horrible feeling in the world being helpless. Im glad you stayed strong and looked to the future.
She looks great by the way...
Ill tell you this though brother...
We sure can make pretty babies.
I think it should be on our drivers licences...
6'1, 295lbs, eyes brown, hair brown, makes pretty babies.
Indeed!
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Discipline
* DRUNKEN MONKEY *
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Now there's a kid with a will to live. She'll probably take the world by storm. Most sincere congratulations to you and your family.
‘Do you know what a love letter is? It’s a bullet from a fucking gun. Straight through your heart.’
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Mark Lind
Posting Freak
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Registered: 9-18-2004
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You rarely take time to think about the fact that each person in "the business" has a life outside of their band, label, magazine etc but that story
makes it sound like maybe you've had too much of a life outside of music this year, Duane.
So I'm curious..... is the fact that she survived beating the odds? I've never heard of a child being born that young and surviving. Is she a miracle
baby according to the doctors?
I also like how that one guy said "She's a cute kid. Keep it up, Duane". haha. Keep what up? Fucking? He's right... cute kid but I don't want to think
of Duane banging away. The stork brought this kid.
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clevohardcore
* Kick\'n ass on the wild side *
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I saw a commercial for some program a couple days ago and they were disscussing this very issue. A child was born very early and even the childs eyes
were still not fully developed and after a year or so the baby is totally fine. Even some priests are considereing this a real life miracle. Whatever
the case. Life is amazing at every turn.
Each aspect of the soul has it's own part to play, but the ideal is harmonious agreement with reason and control.
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BDx13
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First of all, thanks to you all for the kind words. We couldn?t have made it through the past year without the love and support of our family and
friends, so hearing from you on her birthday is also very fulfilling.
Now, is Sadie a miracle baby? According to some of our religious friends and relatives, definitely. To my wife and I, she is a determined and strong
willed and really, really lucky baby. But she is definitely beating the odds as far as survival and overall health issues go.
Some kids are born younger than 25 weeks; their chances are not good, but babies as young as 22 weeks can survive. Those born in the 22 to 25 week
range are called, I shit you not, ?extreme preemies?. I asked one of our doctors if that was spelled an initial cap X. He wasn?t amused.
But the question is not just whether or not they will survive, but what kind of life will they have if they do? The younger the baby, the more likely
the chance he or she will have a serious birth defect. And that could be anything ? cerebral palsy, mental retardation, blindness - the possibilities
are quite intimidating. While in NICU, the nurses measured the circumference of Sadie?s head on a daily basis to make sure there was no unusual or
rapid growth that may signal swelling somewhere in the brain. She also had monthly brain ultrasounds just to double check.
The smallest surviving preemie was born in Chicago last year. Like Sadie, she was 25 weeks, but only 8.6 ounces and 9.5 inches long. Her twin was 1
pound 4 ounces.
The crazy thing is that even though these ?extreme preemies? can be saved, the number of babies born prematurely continues to increase ever year.
That?s one of the many reasons the three of us did the March of Dimes WalkAmerica event on Sunday. Over 10,000 people participated in the 10k NYC
march, and nationwide, almost $100M was raised. We managed to raise over $2000 in just two days ourselves. If you really need to get some tears out,
go read a few of these stories: http://www.shareyourstory.org
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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BDx13
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Let's play a little game...
How much would you guess the hospital bill was for our 3 month stay in the NICU?
If I fail math, there goes my chance at a good job and a happy life full of hard work.
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defstarsteve
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dude whatever the cost was it was it was worth every cent....
that's all that matters/
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forsaken
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BIG DUANE
How much would you guess the hospital bill was for our 3 month stay in the NICU? |
Dude, I can only guess it was thousands upon thousands.
I was in a humidi-crib (an incubator box type thing) for the first few weeks of my life becuase I came out weird and undersize ... but 21 years later
i'm 6 ft, 250 lbs and fit as a fiddle (albeit a little overweight). Everything's gonna work out great.,
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moron
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BIG DUANE
How much would you guess the hospital bill was for our 3 month stay in the NICU? |
I cant wait to see this number... if you actually post it. Three months in the NICU, tons of tests everyday, several surgeries and plenty of doctors
billing your insurance company. I can see this getting up to over a million, but I really have no concept of how much medical procedures or stays
actually cost.
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MikeInhuman
Junior Member
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Registered: 2-14-2005
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An early Happy Birthday to Sadie!
M.
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Todd
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Registered: 5-20-2004
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Duane, you know my private thoughts on this whole thing but let me say a very public and very teary eyed happy birthday and congratulations to you
all. With all this talk of being hard and surviving and all this other bullshit in hardcore, there is nothing that shows more will, determination,
and strength than what you, Sadie, and your wife went through this past year. In my medical life there has been nothing worse than seeing sick
children and the their heartbroken parents. It's why I can't work in Pediatrics. You guys rock and if I have my way there will be a limited edition
run of a dozen baby size Starkweather dhirts for Sadie, my godson Sawyer, and the children of the ever positive MrBad. Best Wishes Motherfucker!
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CR83
Moderator
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Duane, congrats on the incredible journey your family has taken. I have a 10 month old daughter and I too would do anything for. What a great
outcome. I wish you guys the best.
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LilOz
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I talked with you about this over aim awhile back, but I am so glad everything is working out.
You guys are strong.
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Todd
Posts: 313
Registered: 5-20-2004
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3 month NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) stay? Maybe $120-150,000?
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