When Elizabeth was around 6 weeks old we took her to get her photo taken. The photographer kept attempting to get Elizabeth to look straight at her. In every photo her eyes came out crossed. The photographer tried several different things and with every attempt they would revert to crossing. That was the first time I realized there might be something different about my baby girl's eyes.
We called an Opthamologist who scheduled an appointment for her after she was four months old. Crossing of the eyes is common for babies to do in the first few months of their life. If it continues after they are four months old then it is a good idea to have it checked. Four months rolled around and she continued to cross those eyes. The Opthamologist confirmed that she did indeed have a problem, but at the time we were scheduled to move to a different state. His recommended treatments would require many visits so the Doctor showed us how to locate a good Opthamologist to continue her care.
She was 6 months old when she began to see her current Opthamologist. Elizabeth was diagnosed with three eye problems. Esotropia, which is when one or both eyes wander in. Hyperopia far-sighted, a problem with having trouble seeing things at a distance and Nystagmus, a rapid shaking movement of the eyes. The nystagmus in her case was very slight. So slight that I could not tell until the Ophthalmologist called attention to it. Her Esotropia however, was severe. The Doctor recommended patching the right eye for an hour a day forcing her to use her weaker left eye. Imagine patching an active 6 month old who doesn't really want to have something covering her eye! It was a challenge and ended up being my entire focus for that hour. Often the poor girl would end up getting frustrated by my not allowing her to remove the patch and then she would just cry. It was heartbreaking and I hoped and prayed it would help make her eye better.
At this time the Opthamologist also recommended having an MRI done to rule out any brain problems. That was a frightening thought for us. She had to go to the children's hospital and be sedated to get the MRI. I was allowed to be with her during the process and honestly, I think it was much tougher on my Momma's heart than it was on her at the time. When the results of the MRI came back it showed elevated fluid levels. Thus, we were directed to see a neurosurgeon. That was a tough wait!
Our neurosurgeon was wonderful. He spent quite a bit of time with us asking questions, measuring all of our heads and watching Elizabeth the entire time. He concluded that yes, she had some high fluid and yes, her ventricles are on the high normal, but he did not foresee surgery as necessary. As it turns out, Gregory has a larger than normal head and the Doctor concluded it was most likely genetic and she would grow into it. Since she had no developmental delays we were scheduled to come back for one more precautionary visit in 3 more months. Praise God!
After a few months of patching her eyes were not changing. I shared my frustration with the patching process and the Doctor recommended we try eye drops. The eye drops would do the same type of thing the patching was supposed to do, but it would be much easier on us both. I was to put them in her right eye once a day and for an hour they forced her to use that weaker left eye. I got pretty good at putting those drops in and it was better not to have to keep her from pulling off that patch.
The blessing in all of this was that her Hyperopia was not so bad that she needed glasses so at least we did not have to deal with that on top of her Esotropia problems. However, after several months there was not a significant change. The next step in this process was surgery. We wanted to explore all options so we took her to an Optometrist who does vision therapy with children who have these types of eye problems. We prayed for clarity and to know the correct path for our child. To our surprise, the Optometrist agreed with the Opthamologist. The Optometrist said that due to the extremity of the situation she agreed with the surgery route. She said she only said this to about two patients a year. So, we did not have to decide. There was only one path for us to follow.
When Elizabeth was 9 months old she had her first surgery. It was an outpatient surgery at a local children's hospital. She was so little in her hospital gown. It was amazing to see all the children at the hospital playing so happily and you knew they were all there for some type of surgery. Sometimes it is good not to know what lies beyond the bend. The staff and Doctor were all wonderful. She was allowed to go into a toy room and choose a toy and then they took her with her toy away from us. It was the first time she had ever been away from us since she was born.
The surgery successfully corrected her right eye, but only made a slight change on her left one. So, a year after her first surgery she had to undergo another surgery on her left eye. Even though we knew what to expect the experience was still a bit nerve racking. I knew that with each surgery the chance that she would need future surgeries increased.
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Fortunately, the second surgery helped. The Doctor told us that her eye was in the best position it would be in and she was pleased with the progress. She continues to be monitored by the Opthamologist, but our visits are much less frequent now.
This past week we had a follow-up appointment. Once a year the Doctor dilates Elizabeth's eyes. This helps to determine whether or not glasses are needed. Praise God we received a good report. Elizabeth's eyes are still in a good position and she does not need glasses to correct her vision at this time. What a blessing!
1 comment:
Awesome!!!! so Precious!!!!
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