So on Thursday we headed to the St. Louis Children's Hospital to get a second opinion on BE's eye condition, intermittent exotropia. Curious J was able to spend some quality time with the grandparents while we took E to the doctor. From what I understand, LEGOs were involved; so it had to be a good time.
Anyway, here is what we learned: BE's condition only has one option at this point. Surgery. We knew there was a good possibility this was going to happen, but we wanted to try a non-surgical treatment that might have helped before we jumped into surgery. However, the glasses she has did not help. She is only slightly farsighted within the normal range for her age, and so the doctor told us that it was pretty pointless to continue the glasses. We are hoping this is the only surgery she will need, but there is a 20-25% chance that she will need more than one operation. Fingers crossed she is in the 75-80% range.
On June 17, we will be going to St. Louis. From what my teeny tiny non-medical mind understands, they are going to be tighting one of the eye muscles so that it has to work with the other eye and not stay where it is and shut off. I don't really understand how they will pick which eye to operate on, but I trust that this is not the first time they have done this. I saw plenty of kids in the office that day who were the same or similar age as BE. And that is different than our first opinion. While we had no complaints about him, he did not seem to see as many children with more complicated optical issues.
It is out patient surgery - very low risk procedure. I am a little nervous about how she will respond to the anisthetic since it is her first time under the stuff. But I am a lot nervous about the fact that she is not allowed to eat after a certain time of night. This girl eats when she is hungry and when others are eating; she will not sit or play quietly until food is given to her.
The grandfolks are being kind enough to let us stay with them for two nights. We need to be there the day before and then we will leave the day after her surgery, as long as all is fine and good. The grandfolks, all four of them, are also watching J all day while we take BE there. It is fortunate that we have great parents so willing to help out and are close to where we are going.
