Well, we visited the eye doctor for Sadie's half birthday today, and we came away with goods and bads. The fortunate thing is that I REALLY like Dr. Underdahl...which is good after I've been made to wait for 45 minutes before I get to see him!! Seriously, what if I was 45 minutes late to my appointment? I'm sure it'd be a different story. Sadie screamed when we got there, then I got her calmed down (about the time our appointment should have been), but by the time we got back in the room she was screaming her head off again.
Enter Dr. Underdahl. He walked in, started waving flashing lights in her face, turning the lights on and off, and Sadie was in awe. She even SMILED at him!! He walked in and was real gentle, called her punkin, and just loved on her a little. But, of course, by the time we left, she was sad again. The problem was that she REALLY needed to sleep!
So, this is what he said...Sadie is pretty impaired visually. She suffers from Cortical Vision Impairment (CVI) However, he DOES see progress from the last time he saw her, so that's good. And he thinks we'll continue to see progress, mostly in the next year. We know she sees, we're just not sure how well. She doesn't focus on something and stick with it, he says it may not be stimulating enough...because it's hard to see. When asked how this is going to effect her development, he couldn't tell me (nobody can ever answer that question! Yet, we still keep asking). He told me that in the next year, her vision will improve, but it's hard to say how much improvement until she gets to the point of needing to see to read, to walk, etc. I asked about the test they can do to see her brain and how much of what she's seeing is being translated by her brain and he told me that it'd do no good to do that test now because it'll be totally different in 6 months, and probably different again in 6 more months. I also asked about the strabismus (the lazy eye/cross-eyes) and he told me that since there's been so much improvement since the last time he saw us, he doesn't want to resort to patching yet, he thinks that in 6 months, when we see him again, it should be gone. She is doing most of her tracking right now with eyes together.
So for now, we just move on...and wait. We're doing a lot of waiting. For now, though my job is to call The Foundation for Blind Children and see what kind of resources and support they can give us for CVI. Then, we'll go back to see Dr. Underdahl sometime in January or February.
You don't know me, but I have read about you through Anna. You're inspiring as a parent. My daughter has strabismus and Optic Nerve Hypoplasia which has caused her to be almost completely blind in one eye. She is 5 almost 6 and we have been told that they can't tell us how much she can see or not see until she knows how to read better and matures. But we were also told, as time goes by she compensates with her good eye for what she can't see with her bad and doesn't know that how she sees is any different than anyone else. It is good to hear that Sadie has been improving and that they are hopeful about her vision continuing to improve!
ReplyDeleteI actually have strabismus. I had several surgies as a child, as I had quite bad. But my vision was saved, and now I wear contacts or glasses, but the adjustment needed is very minimal. Also it is great that she is using both eyes. My eyes don't work together at all. I use them both, but only one at a time. So that is GOOD news that she is using both eyes together most of the time. Glad you had such a positive visit!
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