At the last visit three weeks ago Dr. F was encouraged by the reduction in pressure in our little one's eye and hoped that we'd be able to avoid further surgery for months, possibly even years. But the pressure has remained the same since then and so our next visit in three more weeks is a combo eye exam/pre-op. At that time Dr. F will determine if the goniotomy was successful enough to try to open the second half of the drain or if it is time to go ahead with the Baerveldt valve implant. If I'm going to be perfectly honest, that news was disappointing.
But there was a really good part to visiting Duke again. Cause these precious little Julbo frames were waiting for us when we got there.
Our little girl has a new look on life. Her strong eye went from 20/60 to 20/40 and her helper eye went from 20/400 to somewhere between 20/200 and 20/125.
And not only does Dr. F (and therefore we) know she is seeing better, more importantly, it appears she knows she's seeing better.
Cause she grinned as soon as they were on her face. Then she spent a little extra time studying mine. She never once tried to take them off all day. And when she reappeared from her bedroom after her nap, she was sporting her little pink frames.
Something tells me that her little grin means she thinks she looks as pretty as we do.
And you know what I love about my kids? Both of her siblings were supportive of her new look. Of course I wasn't really surprised about that. These days, about 90% of the time, that's the way these guys are. Loving life. Laughing. Smiling. Together.
Now, there is the news that we will start patching her strong eye so that the brain is forced to accept information from the helper eye. Three hours a day. Seven days a week. For the next two years.
Can't say that I'm looking forward to it. Course from what I know about this little girl, she'll roll with the punches. It's what she seems to do best. And when she gets a questioning look from someone in public about her patch, she's got her posse by her side.
When you got love like this on your right and left, who needs to worry about what others might think...
**reworked from a post on my personal blog from last week. It's been a little hectic around here as late.**
Well Kristi I understand how you feel when the news is not as optimistic as you had hoped and prayed, and yet there is an option … and this is a GOOD thing.
ReplyDeleteOK, cracking up at the posse and is that a hair clip in C's hair?
Please know I'm cracking up from the perspective of having the opposite (2 boys and 1 girl) who often wants to be one of the boys. I won't go into details here but you can imagine … :)))
Oh, the joy in those sweet smiles and funny faces! Love the glasses, too - just perfect for her little face.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your honest journey - the process of accepting and dealing with unexpected news is a journey in itself. Your honesty and your hopes for your girl are touching.
Kristi, I would so love to hear how your sweetie is doing. Can you let me know your blog? We are heading to Dr. F at Duke on the 30th. My little girl (home 1 week) has glaucoma in both eyes.
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