I'm out of order, and I hate doing things out of order. But here is the story, as it happens.
Natalee as we know, arrived very early. As a result, she's had eye problems since birth, mostly caused by the amount of oxygen therapy she received as an infant. At the beginning, our first problem was Retinopathy of Prematurity, which is abnormal blood vessel development in the rentina. She had surgery at three months to reattach the retina to the optic nerve and fix the biggest part of the problem. However, this has left her with scar tissue causing Bi-lateral Exotropia, which is a fancy word meaning that her eyes don't exactly line up. It's also something that the eye doctor likes to pull residents and interns in to look at whenever he gets the chance. And speaking of the eye doctor, that is really what this post is about. We started seeing the eye doctor every other week in the hospital and were required to follow up with him the week after we were discharged. At that first visit we were told that Natalee would be in glasses within six months. She was nearsighted and he would wait for it to progress, but that was the expectation. So we went to see him every 3 months for nearly two years. Then we were moved to a six month rotation. And, not to be a complainer, but the average appointment at the eye doctor is three hours. So, in nine years I've spent more hours at this man's office than I care to think about. Throw in the fact that until she was about 5, she was kind of a huge pain whenever we'd go and it all just adds up to good times, good times. Her eyesight went from being nearsighted in both eyes, to being nearsighted in one and farsighted in the other. She also developed a stigmatism. Last April she was finally put in glasses. On April 10th we went for our appointment and were told that we needed a new prescription, but overall very little had changed. As a result, he doesn't want to see us again until next April. It's wonderful to kind of put the eye issues behind us and know that she's past the point that anything very degenerative will happen. I told the doctor that I just didn't know what we'd do if we couldn't come and see him twice a year and he said he thought we'd manage.
So, what does all of this have to do with the photo?
 |
| Celebratory Gelato |
3 comments:
You know, Shilo, the best thing about your blog (now that Ream's has closed anyway) is that I can read it in your voice and it becomes twice as funny and sarcastic!
Stupid Reams. And stupid me. I wrote this post as documentation, not really for entertainment. I love when I succeed at something I'm not even trying to do.
Oh, gelato sounds SO good right now!
Well - that's good news! It's always nice to have one less 3-hr errand to run, sheesh.
My eyes are kind of weird, so I can sympathize. Mine don't line up either and I don't have normal depth-perception. Driving at night can be...special, especially in the rain. I mostly use my left eye for far away things and my right eye for near things - it's like built-in bifocals. Cool, no?
Anyway - life turns out just fine, even with eye issues! That's my point. She's a cute little nut.
Post a Comment