Thursday, September 24, 2009

Danielle's eyes

Yesterday was a post-surgery follow-up visit for Danielle. We've been a little concerned with her eyes as they don't seem to be lining up quite right. It's been 3 months since her strabismus surgery and while she already had a follow-up appointment scheduled in October we requested to move it up as we were concerned about her vision. With her being in school now we wanted to make sure she could see as well as possible and address any issues quickly.

As it turns out, we were right. Danielle's right eye is drifting outward. Right now, her vision is still good in both of her eyes, but if that eye continues to drift she will end up using the left eye more and could eventually end up with impaired vision in her right eye. This could compromise her binocular vision (affecting her depth perception).

Danielle's left eye will now be patched for 2 hours a day for the next 3 months--until her next appointment in December. If her right eye has not improved by then, we will start discussing a second surgery. At least for a second surgery she would have more language and be better able to understand what's happening. Hopefully the patching will be enough and we'll be able to keep her out of the operating room. And thankfully she'll only be patched two hours a day so she doesn't have to wear it at school!

2 comments:

Thuy said...

Wow, you guys had some serious intuition when it came to her eye. So glad that you were right and can do something right away to try to help correct the problem. And I'm also so so glad that she only has to wear the patch for 2 hrs/day. Kids can be so mean about that kind of stuff at school, and it's great that she won't have to deal with that potential issue!

Hey...also, starting next Sunday, we'll be attending the 9am service at The J. What service have you guys been able to make it to? I figured it's changed a bit, depending on how the kiddos are doing on Sunday mornings. Hope we get to see you there on a regular basis!

Also, we'd also love to invite ourselves over for dinner (with US bringing the dinner since there is more space at your place!). Let us know what you think. Chef Ryan hasn't retired, and it's been on our minds for a long time to feed the Olmsted Family, just because. :) Can we plan for a Saturday, like Oct 17 or 24? We have a lot going on within the next 2 weeks, but after race day, we're good!

Pat G. said...

Hey Courtney, good catch on the eye. I'm sure you didn't know it, but my sister Noelle had the same problem when she was really little. And for her the patching was all she needed - although it was most of the day every day. She was lucky that it happened in the summer I guess. But after a few months everything had worked out and she's been fine for the 30 years following.