Eye Appointment: Discouraging

Noah being silly in his dilation glasses

Two days ago Noah had his follow up Ophthalmology appointment to see where his vision stands now that he is about 8 months old.  I was hoping for some words of encouragement like "His vision has greatly improved"  or wishful thinking "It's a miracle! His blind left eye is definitely seeing shadows."  Nothing like that was said at all.  In fact I left feeling plain discouraged.

This was the first time we saw this new Ophthalmologist and she had way better bed side manner than our last doctor.  However, once again she was just more interested in the fact that Noah's left eye is pretty much missing it's entire optic nerve.  She kept looking over and over and over again at his left eye.  I just wanted to stand up and shout "Excuse me!  Are we not here to evaluate Noah's one working right eye???"  I was the one who had to keep saying things like "Would you like to check his prescription now to see if he is a good fit for glasses?"  Which he isn't right now.  Or at least she stated that currently they would not help him in any way.....and then she was back to looking at his blind eye again.  So then I asked "is there something wrong with his left eye since you keep looking at that eye?"  She states "No, just looking in there to see his absent optic nerve."  Um.....have you not seen this before?  Why do you keep looking for something you already know is not there?  Its not like it is playing hide-and-seek or something and will just magically appear the 20th time you hold my babies eyelids open and shine lights in there.

She basically said that Noah's right eye looks perfect and the optic nerve in his right eye looks perfect and yet he still isn't trying to grab for anything or focus on anything no matter how much therapy we do.  I was the one then that had to come out and say "So....what you are thinking is that maybe Noah has Cortical Vision Impairment in that right eye?"  She then proceeds to say very vague remarks and states that he could possibly have that or maybe he doesn't.  What?!?

My husband and I then leave the office just kind of bewildered.

The only way I can describe what Noah's vision might be like is to have you imagine a set of blinds behind his eyeball.  Sometimes the blinds are totally open and he can see clearly.  Other days the blinds might be partially shut or completely shut and he either has a really hard time seeing things or cannot see anything at all.  Anything can effect his sight and only time will tell if he actually has this impairment or not. 

So, we will continue to work with Noah's vision therapist and try to get him to focus on objects or people or anything for that matter.  We are currently working with a light box, and ipad (vision apps), and just plain sound making and silent toys in hopes that one day soon he will take a real liking to something and reach out to touch it.

It's all a bit discouraging like I said and I pray that in four months when we go back for another follow up visit there will be vast improvements and I can update this blog with all the good comments and remarks the doctor tells us about Noah's vision.  For now it is yet another waiting game filled with hours of hard work and therapy.

****if anyone has any good ideas that you think might help us with Noah's vision please email me :)