"Doctor" Day

We seemed to be doing so well for a while. I guess we got used to that too quickly! Today is "doctor" day. Peyton had a check up with her opthalmologist. A couple weeks back, she saw this doctor. The doctor couldn't get a great look inside the left eye because of the recent surgery to put the shunt in. She decided to give it a couple weeks, have us come back and see if things improved. That was what today's appointment was about. The good news is that Peyton's right eye is looking great and the doctor expects to get good vision out of that eye, with a fairly substantial prescription. Unfortunately, one month post-surgery, Peyton's left eye would not cooperate. The doctor couldn't get a look inside the eye at all. The cornea is cloudy - an indication of increased pressure due to the glaucoma. Since there's a shunt in place, this should not be happening. She immediately got on the phone to the glaucoma specialist and sent us right over there. He looked at her eye and went ahead and scheduled an eye exam under general anesthetic with possible surgery for this coming Monday. It may be that all he needs to do is remove a suture but we'll see what he finds.

So, here we go with another general anesthetic (Peyton's 11th) and possible surgery (would be her 10th). The regular opthalmologist was rather grim this morning. She is deeply concerned with the left eye. The biggest concern is that if this glaucoma problem cannot be resolved as quickly as possible, Peyton could very well lose vision in her left eye permanently. News like that is never good to hear. We already have to much to deal with with her having moderately severe hearing loss. We have known all along that she also has great vision issues, but have always hoped that with a lot of correction she should do well enough. I can't imagine how much more challenging it would be if she winds up blind in one or both eyes.

We are off to the pediatrician this afternoon for some follow up lab work. Hopefully we come away with good news.

Still waiting on the results of the genetics testing done on 1/8/07. I'm getting anxious!

We have an appointment with a 2nd neurosurgeon in April to discuss the tightening at the junction of the spine/skull. The first didn't want to do surgery, which is fantastic, but it's an awfully serious thing to NOT get a second opinion on.

Moira's taking everything in stride. I told her I was taking Peyton to the doctor and she asked if Peyton was sick. I said no, it was just a check up. She asked if Peyton's eyes hurt. I said yes. Then she declared she wanted cake. This was at 6:45 this morning. She's been declaring that desire for days as, for some reason, she thinks every day should be her birthday!! Just over a month to go and then she can have her cake.

Will keep you all posted on how Peyton makes out on Monday. Thank you all once again for all the support you have given us. We are grateful for it and are mindful of all of your support every single day.