Eye Doctor Visit

     A bit delayed, but an update on our eye doctor visit.

    Leo and I went to the eye doctor on Tuesday. It was nice to see a specialist after having so many questions about his eyes. This visit offered some encouragement, some discouragement, and more waiting.

    After giving a brief description of Leo's history, the eye doctor started by checking to see if the pupils responded to light. They do. They may be a little slow on responding, but they respond. He then used a tool to check for vision. Basically, it was a cylinder with black and white stripes on it (1 inch thick). When he spins it in front of you, it forces your eyes to move in order to follow the movement. He did it on me and himself to show me. When he put it in front of Leo and turned it, Leo's eyes moved. So we know that there is some extent of vision there. Praising God. 

    After that, Leo was given drops to dilate his pupils. We had to wait a bit for them to work. The doctor then used tools to look into his eyes and to the back of them. Another praise is that Leo very much responded to the eye drops. He did not like when they got in his eye. So the doctor looked in and said that the good news is that Leo's optic nerves were in perfect condition. This means that there is not brain damage at the base of the brain, I believe. However, Leo's eyes don't move in sync and this seems to point to some sort of disconnect between his eyes and brain. It doesn't seem like his brain is processing the vision that he does have.

    The eye doctor did tell me at the end that he thinks that Leo will have "vision issues that are not mild." But this whole visit was preceded by him telling me that 6 months from the due date is the best time to look at this stuff. At this point there are still things developing in his eyes. Oh! I forgot. He did tell me that he would expect Leo to be tracking objects with his eyes somewhere from 4 to 6 months. So! This means that he is not concerned about Leo not tracking yet. Leo is just about 4 months out from his due date right now. While things don't look good, this news kind of offered me hope. It reminded me of his cry. As we witnessed his voice come and get louder and stronger in front of us, please pray for focus on clarity to come to his eyes. I can't remember exactly what it was like for him to not cry. Sometimes, I imagine not being able to remember what it was like when he couldn't look at you. God is good and big and He can heal Leo's eyes. I ask that you pray with us for Leo to be able to look at things and know what he is seeing, and that he'd be able to track objects.

    I want God to heal things so badly. I am becoming more and more aware that it is not about physical healing sometimes. But we can still ask. 

    In other news, Brad starts his new job on Monday. So our family is looking at a big transition. Leo starts occupational therapy on Friday. At this point, it is my understanding that OT will work on things like his suck and feeding, but they will expand from there as he gets older. We also have a Pediatrician appointment on Tuesday with the main purpose being checking his weight and seeing how he's doing on bottles and breast milk. 

    Your prayers are treasured. We are so thankful to not be alone on this journey. Ultimately, the Lord is with us. We are seeing so many beauties to what He has for Leo. But we also see Him in the people that He has put around us.