Ojos!

::tap tap tap:: Is this thing on? Did I lose anyone?! Sorry for the recent hiatus! I am been taking a break from blogging because things have been crazy in our house lately! But I have a lot to talk about, and no one to listen, so hopefully that will be so more posts here soon.

So Mr. D had another eyeball appointment at the end of February, and because we are awesome like that, we actually did 2 appointments back to back.

The first appointment we went to was with a Visual Rehabilitative Specialist about 2 hours away, and she was recommended to us by the ROPARD center. Dr. Farense has an amazing reputation of working with infants/kids and being able to pinpoint functional vision, and where some issues may rest, as well as some exercises to be done to improve any usable vision. Dr. Farense is also a whirlwind. She really gets down to the kids level, crawls around, plays, and moves with the kids while she is doing her assessment, all while giving us the information at the same time. We were taking notes frantically, trying to take it all it, while still asking questions. We felt the Dr. was easy to talk to, and great to work with.

By far, the most important piece of information she helped us find is that D actually is NOT blind in his right eye. All of this time we thought the cornea scarring was to advanced, but she found that with the correct type (Bright, hallogen) and color of light (Black, red, and yellow) we can actually get through the scarring and exercise that eye. It was amazing once she pointed it out, once that light came out, and we knew what we were working with we could really get the eye stretching and moving! D was so patient and did a great job working with her. Overall we really just discussed the vision in both eyes (near-sighted in the left, and low but functional in the right) and exercises that we can do to really make the most of his vision.

Also, the Dr. shed a lot of light on different treatments coming forward that they are developing that are already being tested, that will really improve D's vision in the next 10 years. It's amazing what they can do!

Our next appointment was with D's Opthomologist, and did not go as well. Let me put this nicely, we do not enjoy going to this office. This is our 2nd practitioner in the office, and both have been standoff-ish, rude at times, and just unkind. We are not experts and we really rely on them for support and understanding, and let's just say, they stink at it. So we will be looking for our 3rd Optho shortly. We did get the referral that we wanted though; the opportunity to meet with a cornea specialist so we can decide how we want to proceed. Our optho does not feel it is a good idea, but as stated above, did not give us any substantial or sufficient risk factors to consider, so we are going to an expert for his opinion. That appointment is later this month.

Other than the never ending saga of his eyeballs, Mr. D is doing well. Growing like a weed and getting sick every other day. I swear I never expected this much snot to come from someone so small. Gross, but true. He is also STILL refusing to walk (That's right, almost 2, and not walking) and we are just about at our wit's end. We are doing our exercises and really working with him, we have him walk all over the house, and with assistance he does great. Runs even. But ex-nay on the walking. Sigh. One day, when he feels like it, he will do it. At least I hope so.

He is really starting to develop quite the personality, and most of the time is such a happy guy. He loves eating and is really starting to love his bath time. The last couple baths he cried when it was time to get out, even though he was well past the prune stage! He has such an infectious smile!