Update on Paige's Eye

Paige went in today for her follow-up visit on the cataract they found in her eye back in February. The recommendation from the doctor back in May was to patch her right eye for 2 - 1 hour spurts each day to force the left eye containing the cataract to work. The good news at that time was that the cataract only on 5% of the eye, which means that it probably isn't effecting her vision. The bad news is that they can't tell if the cataract was there from birth or if it is new. So, were to come back and have it looked at again a few months later to make sure that it hasn't grown.

That brings us to today. Since we now are on Mandy's insurance, we were able to take Paige to Children's Memorial Hospital for her eye exam. You can't get much better for pediatric ophthalmologists in the Chicago area. Overall Paige was a good patient. She was able to identify all the pictures that they show kids to test their vision. She was not a fan of having one eye covered and needing to identify with just one eye. I got nervous at that point because if she can't identify objects with just one eye, that is a sign that her cataract might have grown. They put some dialting drops on her eye and back to the waiting area for 30 minutes so the drops can do their work. She was happy being out there because she could color and watch PBS. The doctor finally got to us (after 1 1/5 hours of being patient) and took a look at her eye. Paige loved Dr. Yoon. He was playing with her and able to get her to cooperate really well. I would recommend him to anyone. Dr. Yoon was able to see the cataract and still wants to closely monitor her eye. Apparently the size and location of the cataract is what is causing some confusion for all three eye doctors that we have seen. If the cataract was slightly, and I mean slightly larger, they would have to do surgery. She is borderline in need of the surgery but luckily all of us agree that we will do everything we can to avoid having the surgery done. He even said that he is primarly a surgeon and loves to do surgery, but doesn't want to do surgery on her if he doesn't have to.

Here is the scoop on the surgery. The downside to having the surgery, besides the obvious, is that they would have to remove the lens of her eye and put in a prostetic lens. With that lens, she would only be able to see far, in turn, needing glasses for upclose. These would be glasses that she would need for a lifetime. And, since her eyes will most likely change as she gets older, so would the need to change the lens that they put in. That would mean surgery after surgery on her eye over her lifetime. Not fun. Especially since her vision is great right now. Absolutely no need for glasses right now.

Bottom line is we have to wait and see. We still need to patch her one eye for only one hour a day. We need to get better about remembering to do that. We were great in the beginning but this last month we have gotten lazy about doing it. It is our own fault. Bad parents, I know. Putting the patch on forces the eye with the cataract to work. If the eye with the cataract isn't forced to work, her brain could just stop using the eye all together. Not good. So we will keep patching and go back in to see Dr. Yoon right before Christmas and hopefully hear good news that nothing has changed and no need to patch. We'll keep you updates as time passes.