Hi gang! Thanks for all the positive thoughts for yesterday’s eye appointment. Jax did a great job! He sat quietly during the entire exam…which is practically unheard of for any toddler. I think he was a little freaked out by the doctor and his goofy tools that he wasn’t sure what else to do! He had a scowl for the doctor until the very end when he gave the doc a smile as we walked out the door. Smart kid.
The eye exam for kids is pretty incredible. They show the child bright lights, toys, videos, moving figures, and flashcards with black and white stripes and watch their eyes find and focus on the item to determine if a child has any vision problems. Then, they dilate the eyes and use special tools to see how the light refracts off the cornea – this tells them the prescription! Amazing.
Jax is right on the edge of “normal” vision with a slight astigmatism and mild near-sightedness (just like his mama!). Jax’s retina’s also look “wonderful” – which means his ROP has completely healed!
That means NO GLASSES!
…for now.
The doctor is slightly concerned about Jax’s left eye. The pupil is slightly smaller than the right one and his eye lid droops which makes his eye appear smaller on the left side. This could be caused by some nerve damage either from Jax’s traumatic birth, the Avastin injections, or the laser eye surgery.
He’s tasked us with looking at pictures to see when we start to notice this. If it’s something that has been there since Jax was a baby, then there is less cause for concern. If it’s something that has appeared recently, then there could be a bigger problem (because that means it’s getting worse quickly).
So now, of course, I’m pouring over pictures of Jax from when he was a baby trying to hard to find evidence of a small pupil and a droopy eyelid! I’m not sure exactly what I’m looking at and all the pictures are blurring together and all of a sudden ALL of the photos show this…and then NONE of the photos show this…and I’m driving myself crazy!
I’m supposed to email the doctor some pictures, so I’m going to send 1 from each month of Jax’s life so he can compare. I don’t think he was expecting to get 16 of them!
After the doctor takes a look at the photos, he will decide if we have to go back in 2 months or in 6 months. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed for 6 months because that means the doctor isn’t seeing anything of immediate concern! I’ll let you know when I hear back…
An Early Start 