Monday, October 22, 2012

I am blessed...

Today was our 1 month post-surgery check-up. And we breathe and wait. 
And while we wait and wait and wait to see the doctor...

I gain perspective.  No matter what happens at this appointment, I know I am blessed.

The waiting room seems to be filled with an unusual amount of children 2 and under with multiple medical issues today. Cords being carried by one parent, while the other parent comforts their newborn.  Parents opting to wait outside. Perhaps to enjoy a beautiful fall day, or perhaps to avoid the germs that may harm their infant child.  I look around and know that I am blessed.  I am blessed that while Mallory's cataract was congenital, it didn't impair her sight until the beginning of this year.    I am blessed that she just so happened to have a well child visit in June. I am blessed that her pediatrician was diligent and made a referral. I am blessed that we have a great doctor and her surgery went great. I am blessed that she doesn't fight me very often with patching. I am blessed that I can bribe her with patching charts.  I am blessed that I haven't had to fight her with contacts.  I am blessed that other than her cataract, she is healthy.

Stickers on the nose, like the Dr. 
Mallory's left eye is now 20/40.  Pressure is good, too.  She will continue to patch for 4 hours a day for the next two months trying to improve the eye.  We ordered new glasses today so she can finally see close up.  If I'm lucky, she will wear these new glasses like the last ones... Like she was born to wear them.

Our patching mess
And while I know how blessed I am, I also know in this short amount of time how heartbreaking this all can be.  I know the tears she sheds when she doesn't want to patch when other kids are around.  "Mama, the tids will lat at me," is what I hear. (Translation- Mom, the kids will laugh at me)  Heartbreaking that a 4 year old already knows kids pick on others who are different. Heartbreaking that I will always be waiting for the 'other shoe to drop.'  
Because we are blessed to have a had success so far. An easy road in comparison to the other imoms and the other families in the waiting room today.  And with a little bit hope and a whole lot of faith, we hope our blessings will continue. And if they don't, we still have a little bit of hope and a whole lot of faith to tackle the next obstacle. 
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6 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 23, 2012 at 6:13 AM

    I am so glad that it went well. 20/40 is awesome. I think you will see even more improvement over the next few months. Hope and faith will take you further than anything else on this iJourney. So happy for her. She is beautiful. Love her patch princess!

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  2. KittynoahOctober 23, 2012 at 5:39 PM

    20/40 is amazing! That is "I can get my driver's license" numbers right there!

    I love your perspective. Because really, at the end of the day, we are blessed. We are all blessed with resiliant kiddos who inspire us every day. We have great doctors and strong support systems and we are dedicated to see this "eye thing" through to the very end. She is a gorgeous child and the outlook you have will help her as she faces the road ahead.

    Just a curious question...did she get an IOL when she had her cataract removed?

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    1. HeatherOctober 24, 2012 at 7:22 AM

      Yes,she did have an IOL. My guess is because of her age and the fact that she only had the cataract and no other issues, she was a good candidate.

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  3. AmandaOctober 23, 2012 at 8:03 PM

    Yay for good news and even better perspective!

    I am so glad you are sharing your journey... what strikes me is your experience with Mallory at an age where she can understand the social impact of wearing the patch and how to deal with it. Dealing with it from your perspective and from her's. I would love to hear more, as you can imagine this is a huge iworry for me. I do realize much of it probably just comes naturally when you are dealing with it though.

    I too have a question, if you don't mind my asking... of her 4 hours of patching, how much of it is around other kids her age? In other words, is she wearing the patch at school?

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    1. HeatherOctober 24, 2012 at 7:40 AM

      This is our approach (right now)... We are honest with Mallory about everything and explain it to her in ways she might understand. While we don't want it to define her, we also let her know that it makes her her and that's ok. We talk about how everyone has something that makes them special, whether you can see it or not. My oldest has a peanut allergy so we use that as an example.
      At this point, we usually patch from 8-12 because she doesn't go to school until 1. She can't see do to school work when patching until her glasses come in so another reason we don't patch at school. However, last week we tried patching at our usual time on Sunday and she had a meltdown when I took her to Sunday school because the "tids will lat.' I took the patch off for that hour and put back on when we went to church and she was fine. Mallory seems to be good when she's patching and going places as long as she's not going to be without me with a group of kids. I think I'm her security blanket. And that's ok. I feel the more I act like it's a 'normal' thing, the more she'll accept it and embrace it. Whew... talk about teaching empathy and compassion at an early age...

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    2. AmandaOctober 29, 2012 at 6:09 PM

      Thank you for this... as you know patching at age 4 is different than patching at age 2. Just trying to gain some perspective, I appreciate your honesty. While this journey is ever changing, challenging and certainly heartbreaking at times I know we can't go wrong when we trust our parental gut.

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