The "S" Word

Today was Jonathan's appointment with the pediatric eye specialist in Waterville. It was our first time meeting him and things went very well. The technician tried to do a few different eye tests to see exactly what Jonathan's vision was and to see his depth perception, tests that I remember doing as a young child several million times, but Jonathan just wasn't having it. He is still quite young but he was a champ for the doctor himself.

Jonathan is focusing on objects, both near and far, using both of his eyes. He bounces back and forth between which one he favors more. This is a good thing. Unfortunately, because he's not using the eyes together and because we've exhausted our options (glasses, atropine drops, patching) and his vision has remained the same since we began glasses (mid-July 2009), Dr. L agreed that surgery is our best chance at saving Jonathan's eye sight.

Jonathan's diagnosis is accomedative estrophia caused by farsightedness. Accomedative estropia is a form of strabismus, also known as crossed eyes. I did watch the strabismus surgery on you tube, against my own will, I couldn't resist and I don't necessarily recommend it unless you have a strong stomach. It wasn't that bad but it is very national geographic. Keep in mind that I wanted to be an eye doctor up until I went to college so I've always been fascinated by the eye and how it works. It's a little different when it's your baby but we know its necessary and that its a common surgery. I've said it before but I've been there, done that, and now I have 20/20 vision with signs of a successful surgery (Dr. L performed a few tricks on me and was very impressed).

We already have our surgery date - Jan. 5th, 2010. We're told the surgery itself only takes roughly 20 minutes and that Jonathan will be away from us for roughly an hour.

I watched this video back when Jonathan first visited the eye doctor back in July and found it comforting. The little boy, Rian, is a few years older than Jonathan but it's comforting to see the before and after. Big steps for a little man but he's strong and can handle it.