Eyes, Snow, and Other Fun Stuff

Busy as usual.  Or, maybe more busy than usual.  I'm just too tired to backup, so here's the quick recap:

E had her eye checkup.  No new news.  Elena has two healthy eyes that don't work that well together.  She has esotropia (since birth) and has had three eye surgeries for strabismus/esotropia.  Her eyes still drift, with the right one being worse than the left.  The good news here is that she does use both of her eyes, they both register with her brain, sometimes together.  Further surgeries aren't going to fix her vision issues, but later on she may opt for a procedure to align her eyes better (largely for cosmetic reasons).  Her depth perception is not good, but she's never known anything differently so it's her version of normal.  She is also slightly nearsighted, so that's built into her prescription.  No big changes, but she'll be getting new glasses to account for growth.

Before the cold weather snap, E's been on her bike a lot.  We went on a local trail (pretty flat, but had a few little hills and turns) and it was WINDY and she was fantastic.  She rode for 2 miles with minimum help (and I did have to catch her one time).

We had some snow.  The weather turned straight-up frigid here after a very mild winter, and I made the best I could out of snow days and got the kids on sleds as soon as I could.  I took them to a giant hill, hoping that E and Viv would stay on a sled--WHICH THEY DID!  The hardest part of that morning was actually getting snow gloves on E's hands.  It took almost 15 crying minutes.  I knew we couldn't give up; she needed a waterproof, tight-fitting glove so her hands wouldn't freeze off when wet--very important, since Elena will definitely have her hands on the ground more than Vivian due to falls or trouble staying upright.  Once the gloves were on, they worked beautifully.





Side note:  Good thing I'm working out a little more.  Towing two sleds and carrying E up that hill is no joke.  

Nasty wintry mix weather means creative ways to entertain ourselves...

Megafort was pretty awesome

I had to keep the girls busy while I was at work.  Animal Hospital to the rescue!

Viv starts the exam

Viv anesthetizes her penguin

E starts surgery

Serious procedure

"The Doctors"

An Eye Update

We just had our yearly ("big") checkup with Dr. P, Elena's pediatric opthamologist. WE LOVE DR. P. I cannot stress that enough--he is the epitome of a gracious, respectful, patient, knowledgeable, conscientious--all around EXCELLENT doctor.

For those of you who don't know (or started following us late), E had congenital strabismus; her first eye surgery was around 8 months (I forgot exactly) of age, with a doctor in-town. After her follow-up, I switched doctors to Dr. P. She has had two subsequent surgeries (her official diagnosis is (infant) esotropia), with the hope that she would use both eyes together, and hopefully, with depth perception.

Today is a great day!

After a 3-hr appointment, it's official: Elena has excellent vision (with corrective lenses). In the past, the prognosis was that Elena had two healthy eyes that may or may not be able to work together. Today, the word is that Elena not only has two healthy eyes (she does have a corrective prescription for astigmatism), but these two eyes DO work together, AND she has depth perception.

The biggest issue is her eyes do NOT work together all the time; when she is sick, or tired, it's obvious that her eyes drift. One more than the other (I forgot which), but they both do it. I can't imagine what that must be like...just tired? or headache-y? When she is wearing her glasses, and she is alert and healthy, her eyes look fine and move together.

All I care about, at this moment, is that 1) she is healthy and 2) reading is not uncomfortable for her. Since she read her book the whole way up to Dr. P's office, I assume that is not an issue.

Driving 3 hours out of your way (each way), spending the night away from home, pretty much sucks. Seeing a doctor that "gets" your kid? WORTH EVERY MINUTE.

Eye Checkup and Playgrounds

Elena just had an eye checkup. While things haven't changed a lot, we did get some news. Elena's eyes still "drift". They have since birth, despite interventions (glasses, 3 surgeries). The good news--and the original goal of her surgeries--is that she has excellent vision in both eyes. Unfortunately, they do not work together consistently, so Elena's binocular vision/depth perception is unknown.

I asked our doctor--how would I know if Elena would benefit from another procedure? How can I tell that her vision is affecting her balance? He said if Elena had consistent problems clearing steps (which she kind of does, but I think it's more of a muscle coordination thing) or rounding corners (nope) or getting food on a utensil and into her mouth (nope), grabbing toys or pencils or cups (nope) . I said I didn't think her vision was the big problem with her balance, and Dr. P agreed with me. My hope (now that E's eyes are confirmed to be healthy individually) is that she will be able to read without too much fatigue or pain from using her eyes together. So far, this hasn't seemed to be a problem.

For right now, E will keep her same prescription in her glasses. She may have another surgery to try to straighten her eyes--but the gains from this potential procedure would most likely be minimal optically, and more for cosmetic reasons.

After our appointment, I took the girls to a well-loved playground. I've filmed E here before. It's covered in small pebbles, and the wooden play structure has lots of holes, large steps, and ladders to climb on. I've had to guard Elena very closely in the past. E is taller and stronger now--but also just better able to use her body. Look at her go!!

Eye Surgery #3

Elena had her third eye surgery with Dr. P on October 29th, 2008.  She is definitely getting smarter when it comes to her appointments...she knew she was going to have an operation.  She waited until the day before she and Jason left for Northern Virginia to ask me The Question:  "Will this hurt?"  I told her a little, and then her eyes will feel a little scratchy...and after her nap she'll be fine. 

Overall her attitude was great--until she was carried into the OR and the doors closed.  Then Jason could hear her crying.  She was pretty good when she woke up, though.

The results were quite good--but that was true last surgery, too.  I have seen her on two occasions "drift" since the procedure.  One eye (at a time?) seems to drift "upward" these two times.  This happened before and it resolved itself.  I can only hope that the third time's the charm, and eventually her eyes resolve to stay together.