The eyes have it
Well, as stated previously, we went to the pediatric opthamologist yesterday. Since birth, Toby has had what we call a "lazy eye"...his right eye drifts out, usually when he's focusing at long distances or when he's tired. The pediatrician and our optomitrist both said that this is fairly normal and not to worry about it until nine or ten months of age. Over the past nine months, we have noticed it less frequently, but it's definately still there, so I asked the doctor about it when we were in for the last check up. He referred us to Dr. Baker, an opthamologist.
The appointment went very smoothly, Toby was a champ. The nurse/tech looked at him first, then put some drops in his eyes to dilate them. She said she definately noticed the drift (making me feel better, that it wasn't an optical illusion or figment of my imagination). Dr. Baker was great. We have a few friends who take their kids there (he's supposed to be the only/best in the area, and lots of our friends who have kids with DS take them there).
So the problem is not with vision (Toby sees fine) and not with muscles. He said there is a problem with the brain and how it tells that eye to work, it's just not getting the message to the eye to work as hard as the other. It's not unusual and not dangerous, and now is definately the time to fix it. We will be "patching" Toby's eye for two hours a day for the next two months, then we go back to the doctor. He said that the patching should help. He also said he is about 99% sure that Toby will need surgery at some point. The surgery is done at Children's and is an outpatient procedure. (Insert interlude where we sing the praises of Children's, tell him about Ben, and he reports he's on the board there).
I feel kind of stupid, after spending two years of my life "on top" of various medical issues that I didn't ask ONE SINGLE QUESTION. Seriously, I was like a slack jawed yokel. And now I have TONS of questions. How will we know if surgery is needed? When is it done? Is there a chance that the patching will fix this problem? And I need him to repeat the name of the condition slowly so that I can commit it to memory. I think I'm going to call today and ask for a return call so that I can ask some questions and put my mind at ease.
It doesn't matter that this is "common" or that the surgery is "usually harder on mom and dad"...I'm a little worried. I mean, for obvious reasons (this is my kid) and those that are obvious for our family (after everything we went through with Ben). For now we are going to focus on the patching and not worry about the future. I'm not really freaking out, but I kind of have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Don't forget the buddy walk this weekend, you can register on site on saturday if you want. I'm looking forward to it, but also being hit with a flood of memories of Ben. The greiving is a little stronger this week. I am looking forward to seeing some friends that we haven't seen, since we haven't been going to many events, but it will be bittersweet.
The appointment went very smoothly, Toby was a champ. The nurse/tech looked at him first, then put some drops in his eyes to dilate them. She said she definately noticed the drift (making me feel better, that it wasn't an optical illusion or figment of my imagination). Dr. Baker was great. We have a few friends who take their kids there (he's supposed to be the only/best in the area, and lots of our friends who have kids with DS take them there).
So the problem is not with vision (Toby sees fine) and not with muscles. He said there is a problem with the brain and how it tells that eye to work, it's just not getting the message to the eye to work as hard as the other. It's not unusual and not dangerous, and now is definately the time to fix it. We will be "patching" Toby's eye for two hours a day for the next two months, then we go back to the doctor. He said that the patching should help. He also said he is about 99% sure that Toby will need surgery at some point. The surgery is done at Children's and is an outpatient procedure. (Insert interlude where we sing the praises of Children's, tell him about Ben, and he reports he's on the board there).
I feel kind of stupid, after spending two years of my life "on top" of various medical issues that I didn't ask ONE SINGLE QUESTION. Seriously, I was like a slack jawed yokel. And now I have TONS of questions. How will we know if surgery is needed? When is it done? Is there a chance that the patching will fix this problem? And I need him to repeat the name of the condition slowly so that I can commit it to memory. I think I'm going to call today and ask for a return call so that I can ask some questions and put my mind at ease.
It doesn't matter that this is "common" or that the surgery is "usually harder on mom and dad"...I'm a little worried. I mean, for obvious reasons (this is my kid) and those that are obvious for our family (after everything we went through with Ben). For now we are going to focus on the patching and not worry about the future. I'm not really freaking out, but I kind of have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Don't forget the buddy walk this weekend, you can register on site on saturday if you want. I'm looking forward to it, but also being hit with a flood of memories of Ben. The greiving is a little stronger this week. I am looking forward to seeing some friends that we haven't seen, since we haven't been going to many events, but it will be bittersweet.