Thankful

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

So lots of people are doing a "month of thankfulness" on facebook.  I wish I was that dedicated.  But after an awesome message at church on Sunday (thanks Pastor Phil) I do realize that I have a lot to be thankful for.  So here goes...in no particular order. 

I am thankful for:

1. coffee
2. DVR on the TV
3. internet
4. logic puzzles
5. bubble bath
6. warm beds
7. fun toys
8. applesauce in a pouch
9. glow sticks
10. pizza
11. sleep
12. bubbles
13. books
14. digital cameras
15. central heat/air conditioning.
16.  and much, much more

Now, I know some of those sound fluffy or irrelevant, but I really am thankful for all the little things that bring me joy.  As for the big things, sometimes words can't express your gratitude.

My husband - the caring, sweet, helpful man that he is.  He brought me out of my shell and showed me a world that I never knew existed.  I wasn't truly alive until I met him.

My kids - my beautiful, wonderful, smart kids.  They are my heart walking around on this planet.

My family - so supportive, helpful and loving.  I love that my sisters are more than sisters and are friends.  I love that I see my parents every week and can talk to them about everything.

Health - while we have definitely had our challenges, we are healthy.  My kids can run and play and jump.  And we have health insurance that helps with the surgeries, appointments, and contacts. 

My fellow imoms - they truly "get it."  I am amazed that I have been able to connect with a little community of moms that are experiencing the same cataract journey.  Between camopatchsunday and the instragram conversations, I know I am not alone. 

I have so much to be thankful for.  I really do have a wonderful life.  There are lots of ups and downs - we've had good times and bad - but we really are blessed. 

And I am thankful that I have figured out the easiest, fastest, least painful way to let my kids visit Santa.  Before you enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner, just hit Bass Pro.  They are open on Thanksgiving, and since everyone else is scarfing down turkey, it was empty!  This is the second time we have done this, and it is awesome.

And besides seeing Santa (which Julia refused to do), they have a whole kids area.  And you get a free 4x6 pic with Santa!  Jed was able to do every activity that was there, with no waiting! 

First he rode the carousel.

Then he shot the rifles (don't worry, they were laser).

This is what Julia did while Jed had fun.

Driving the remote control monster truck.

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

Pumpkins and Patches

So Halloween has come and gone, and we had a great time.  We went to the pumpkin patch last weekend and picked our pumpkins.  They were carved and put on the porch.  And for Halloween, we went trick or treating and enjoyed a lot of chocolate!

At the pumpkin patch!

Jed rode the pony!

Picking a pumpkin.

Jed with the pumpkins.

Scooping out the guts.

Carving pumpkins.

Jed was Tigger.

Julia was a pumpkin (for about 5 minutes)

Finished product!

 

 

 

And now that the festivities are over, it is time to head back to reality.  We've been having a bit of a rough time with Julia and her glasses.  I was convinced that she could see better with them on, but I just couldn't convince her of that fact!  We were having trouble keeping them on her face.

 

I love my glasses right now!

 

Eventually, she took them off and broke them.  If you notice in the pumpkin patch pics, she isn't wearing glasses because they were broken.

 

Definitely broken.

 

When she broke them the first time, we went ahead and ordered her some miraflex glasses.  Good thing we did because a couple weeks later she really broke her glasses!  The miraflex actually arrived the next day so we went and picked them up.

 



My new specs!

 

We still have trouble keeping them on, but she wears them more than she would wear the wire frames.

 

They are on...

And they are off!

 

 

Julia saw her eye doctor on Nov. 1st.  First we did the Cardiff test to check her acuity.  She didn't enjoy being patched for the test, but she seemed to respond to the cards.

 

Then we visited with Dr. Hoekel.  He said that her acuity was better - one line better in each eye, which brings her to 20/80 in the left and 20/300 in the right.  He also noticed that her eye is MUCH straighter with her new glasses.  He checked out the glasses and then looked at her eyes.  He was impressed with how she is using her eyes and wanted to dilate her eyes just to double check that nothing had changed.  So before he put in the dilating drops, he tried to measure her pressures but she was crying way to hard. 

 

After her eyes were dilated he double checked her prescription and it hasn't changed at all.  She is steady at +6.00 in her left and +13.00 in her right.  We talked a lot about our options and he thinks that we should continue with the glasses for now.  Even though there is still a substantial difference between both eyes, it seems like she is trying to use them together and she is definitely seeing better in the glasses.  I asked if it would be better to go back to a contact in the right and keep the glasses on the left.  He said that he had thought of that too, but since her eye is staying so straight with the glasses, he wants to continue using those.  It seems that her visual system is trying to reach a state of "balance" with her left eye becoming a bit more farsighted as her right eye is decreasing.  He did predict that her left eye will always need correction - but I knew she would need glasses anyway, so that wasn't a big shocker.  He is going to run her information by the surgeon, just to get an opinion and see if he would do anything differently.

 

We also talked about the future.  He said that we will just take it one appointment at a time.  He said we will probably introduce bifocals around age 2 when she gets bigger glasses.  Right now he sets her focal point in her right eye at about 35 cm.  So anything farther than that is not in focus.  Bifocals will allow her to see both near and far since the lack of natural lens prohibits her from doing that adjustment on her own.  He also said that we may do the IOL at age 2, but that if her eyes continue the way they have been, she may not need the IOL!  If her prescription in both eyes ends up pretty close in numbers, the IOL will actually cause more problems by correcting the right eye while the left is still needing lenses.  I told him that would be great - that I wanted to wait as long as possible anyway for the IOL.

 

The only bummer is that we are starting patching again.  I expected this, but I am nervous about her wearing glasses and a patch.  We are patching 2 hours a day.

 

So overall, this has been the best appointment!  I always am so anxious and wound up going these appointments and have learned to anticipate bad news.  So it was great to get some good news and feel positive about the future!