No Bad News Is Good News

Today was a long day at the hospital for a procedure with my daughter in which she was sedated so a team of doctors could look at her eyes.    At the end of the day my daughter finally got to eat, which was the best part of the whole experience for her because she was so hungry and for me because she had been talking about food for over five hours.   She literally crammed as much bread as she could get into her mouth and only after doing so did she realize she couldn’t chew or swallow without removing some.    Anesthesia will do that to you though.  

As an aside here, I can’t begin to thank those of you who have contacted us with ideas and references.   Of particular note, through a neighbor, I found out we have a retina surgeon and specialist just a few streets over.   She heard about my daughter’s case and called me on Labor Day evening to talk to me, ask questions, give advice and most importantly, give us some hope.   The outpouring of support has been tremendous from so many people.  Thanks to everyone.

But I gush.   Let’s get back on topic.    The title of this blog post tells it all.   We don’t have any more bad news, and in fact, there is some good news.   First, we weren’t expecting repaired vision today.   We had been told it would take time and if they saw some improvement today, that would be a good sign.    And that is exactly what they saw: small signs of improvement.   It’s enough of a change that they believe treating with steroids to reduce the inflammation is the correct treatment unless something is uncovered in some of the more complicated tests which have yet to come back.

We’ll be treating with oral steroids, topical steroid drops and dilation drops for the next two weeks and then she’ll be evaluated again.   The lead doctor on the case today said, “we’re not out of danger yet, but this is a move in the right direction.”

I’m tired and heading off to bed tonight, but tomorrow I plan on putting a spiffy picture of an eye up here and talking about how some of the things I thought were going on were close, but not exactly right and how the four issues my daughter is having in her eyes are likely related to one cause.    Teaser, I know, right?

The Big Boy Update:  Our house phone line rang today and my son, for some reason, decided to answer it.   When my husband asked about it he said, “yeah, I answered it but I told them I was a kid. The didn’t talk back so I hung up.”

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was recovering from anesthesia this evening and apparently didn’t like us talking around her.   Suddenly she said in a slurred voice, “let’s play the quiet game. 1…2…3”   We got the message she wanted us to be quiet but about ten seconds later we started discussing discharge procedure again.   As soon as we did, my daughter said aloud, “you lose.”