Decision Made

Today Nicole had yet another visit to the Eye Clinic.  We had a good chat with the doctor, I think we were in the room for an hour and a half total.  Nicole, with much distractions, allowed Dr. T. to measure the pressure in her eye.  Still high at 27-30 despite all the drops and medications.  This means the glaucoma is still uncontrolled and that surgery is inevitable.  Our goal now is not great vision (although we are still hopeful) but rather to give her a comfortable eye that does not look unsightly.  Unfortunately, baby eyes are very pliable so high pressures stretch the eye.  The high pressures can also eventually damage the optic nerve giving us no chance at vision at all.  Dr. T. says we should be happy if Nicole can see color and movement.  We are trying to give her a spare here in case something happens to her good eye...not get 20/20, but of course we are trying for the best.  The plan now is for Dr.T. to talk to the retinal surgeon who did our initial operation and see if he is confident that the retina will not detach.  If he gives it the OK Dr. T. will try to open up the area of the eye where fluid drains, and which is currently blocked.  Wish I never had to know so much about the eye.  Of course there are many complications, but right now the benefits outweigh the risks so we are going ahead with surgery.  The other rough part is that post op we will have many exams under anaesthesia to see how the pressure is stabilizing.  I cannot wait for Nicole to be big enough to sit still for pressure measurements, but for now she is 5 months old and having none of it.  Can't bribe her with a lollipop just yet. =)
Unfortunately, my little one would not give me a chance to get her contact lens in (surprise surprise) so Dr. T. could not assess her vision.  Given how crabby she is patched I don't suspect it is very good, but we are pushing through with the patching.  Because Nicole is giving me such a hard time with the lens I have to wait for her morning nap to get it in.  This results in half the day gone before we can patch....so....this brings us to her first pair of glasses!! Yes, we ordered a pair of glasses for her today.  Hopefully we will be able to patch her for an hour before nap time and then I can slip that lens in.  The glasses magnify everything so they are not optimal but right now they are better than nothing.  I'll let you know how it goes once we get them!