Dr. Trese was able to look into her eye while she sat in a chair and said her eye, “looks remarkably good.” He could even see some circulation present. He was happy with the way things appeared one day after surgery. He did a test, having her cover her left eye to see if she could see him waving his hand with her right eye. She was able to see it, but he told us he wasn’t altogether sure she didn’t peek with her left eye. He suggested we do tests like this from time to time to see how things are improving.
We spoke with one of his Fellows as and asked some questions. She needs to remain on her back as much as possible for the next four to five weeks and should keep activity levels low. I asked him for some specifics about what she could potentially see without a natural lens and he gave us some details.
A vision prescription is measured in a plus or minus number. For instance, my husband is nearsighted and has a +1 prescription for contact lenses so he can see distance. We have a friend who has spoken about her nearsightedness to me before and has very thick glasses. She has a +12.5 prescription and says without her glasses, she can only see things very close up. Without a natural lens and without any other issues (pretend we have a happy, normal retina for the purposes of this discussion) my daughter would have a +/- 20 prescription.
I hate doing the reading on the Web (not the Internet, but that’s a whole other discussion on misused terms) but in this case I wanted to understand what she might see from people who have missing lenses. One person said everything was so blurry the only information he could discern was colors and overall shapes. One person had missing lenses that had been corrected well with glasses and could see 20/70 in one eye and 20/20 in the other.
So if her retina heals and can transmit optical signals, she’s going to need one hell of a thick lens in a pair of glasses for her right eye. My friend with the +12.5 prescription told me, “good news is the Germans are wizards with optical glass, so the lens keep getting thinner.” I don’t know about contact lenses for a small child but since we don’t even know the prognosis on the retina, we’re going to table this for a future discussion.
What worries me about the loss of the lens is the probable need to perform a similar surgery on her left eye in the future. The pressure in that eye continues to be zero and it is possible maybe even probable the eye will continue to decline in health if nothing is done. What if she loses the lens in that eye? I’m suffering from large bouts of fear that she may lose the only functional vision she has left by either doing nothing or doing something.
We’re on the way home now, planning to get in before midnight. My daughter continues to be compliant and even understanding with everything including lots of eye drops, wearing a metal eye patch, having to lie on her back, not jumping or hopping or running, and not messing with the covered eye. We’re very fortunate she’s so understanding.
The Big Boy Update: My husband and I are going to have to figure out what to do to spend time with my son so he knows he’s as important and special to us as his sister. This isn’t a “fun” trip or a “vacation” even though we’re trying to make it seem so to his sister. But to him, it’s both parents spending time with his sister and not him. I’m looking forward to seeing him and giving him a big hug and kiss when we get in.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter is very excited to be sitting in the front seat of the car. The passenger seat could recline more than the second row seats so she’s relaxing and listening to a Winnie the Pooh audio book as we drive towards home.
No comments:
Post a Comment