Two pounds at birth and dropping. Baptize the child, give him a name, do whatever one can do when all seems hopeless. These were the thoughts my parents must have had, and these were the actions they took. After four months in the hospital the child comes home. He isn't very responsive, but then he is so very little.
Several months pass without noticeable improvement.
Conversations with doctors reveal that there isn't much known about infants kept alive through such extraordinary means. Excessive sleep is diagnosed as a significant indicator of retardation. A visit with an eye doctor concluded in short order that I was totally blind. My mother was so devastated that my grandmother had to take me home from the doctor's office. My mother was overwhelmed by guilt.