Second Trip to the Ophthalmologist

Y had an appointment to meet with the ophthalmologist again on Friday.  It seems as if it'll be pretty routine for her to go in every 6 months and they will check her vision and monitor the intermittent exotropia.  It was a pretty quick and fairly routine visit.  An assistant came in first and she handed Y a card with 4 letters on it, H, O, V and T.  She instructed Y to match the letters on the card with the ones that would pop up on a television monitor which they had on the opposite side of the room.  Well I assume that most of the patients that come in and are Y's age do not know their full alphabet by recognition because when Y started just calling out the letters that she saw the assistant looked back at me in surprise and asked, "She recognizes all of her letters?"  To which I simply responded, "yep!"  That assistant was truly amazed by not only that but by Y in general, I keep telling people she's one smart little girl (maybe even too smart).

When the doctor came in he just did a few other tests, mostly trying to have her follow a light.  I assume it is in following this light that he is able to recognize if there is a "pulling" of the eye.  After the tests he said that indeed there is a pull but that it seems to be in both eyes but only slightly and she manages to control it very well.  He said that for now there's nothing that they can do to treat it because it is such a mild case but if, in the future, it worsens then we will talk treatment.  So for now we will just be monitoring it and taking her in every 6 months for a checkup.  We're just relieved that it doesn't appear to be getting any worse, and we're hopeful that it'll remain that way.  The doctor seems to think that IF it ever happens to get worse then it will be several years down the road or maybe even never!  That's music to a parent's ears!

Intermittent Exotropia, Part II

You may remember this post written back in March regarding Y's 30 month well check-up.  I wrote about Intermittent Exotropia and how we had scheduled an appointment for Y to meet with an ophthalmologist and have her eyes checked regarding it.  Well that appointment was this past Tuesday, May 24th. 

Long story short, she does in fact have Intermittent Exotropia in her left eye but it happens very infrequently and even when it does occur she is very good at controlling it.  The doctor we met with explained to us that in cases like Y's they do not treat it, rather they just keep an eye on it.  She will go back in November for a quick check-up just to make sure it hasn't worsened but we're confident that it's nothing to be concerned about.  Should it get much, much worse we would then discuss having her wear a patch over one eye or possible surgery in order to correct it.

We're just glad to know that she has an extremely mild case of it as of right now and that it requires no treatment.  We'll remain optimistic that it will stay that way in the future!

Intermittent Exotropia

Our baby girl is 2½ now!!!  Well she's been 2½ for almost a week now but was waiting until her 30 month well baby visit to write a post about it.  She weighs 31½ pounds fully clothed on the doctor's scale, 30 pounds if you prefer to rely on the Wii Fit while wearing pajamas.  She is 36½ inches tall.  She's extremely healthy, eats most of her veggies and all fruits that grow under the sun.  She is TONS of fun, I really can't express how awesome and entertaining she is.  I love being her mommy, especially at those moments when she tells me that I'm her best friend or when she wraps her arms around me and says, "I love you too, Mommy!"  She is a lot of fun to be with most of the time but there are also those very trying moments, especially now that she has started telling me what she doesn't want to do.

While at the doctor I finally thought to mention something to her pediatrician that I have never thought to mention before.  You see, ever since I can remember (definitely as early as 3 months) when Y wakes up she sometimes has a lazy eye.  Now I never mentioned it to the doctor because I always thought it was typically something that babies experienced and that she would eventually grow out of it.  Well I realized a few weeks ago that she hadn't just "grown out of it" and decided that I would talk to her pediatrician about it, just to make sure it wasn't something I should be concerned about.  Upon describing it to him he immediately told us that we should definitely go and get it checked out.  He referred to a name for it but it was medical speak and I didn't really catch it.  So last night after dinner I sat down to do some research (I couldn't imagine being a parent without the internet) and I found that it is called Intermittent Exotropia.  It's "intermittent" because it doesn't happen 100% of the time, in fact the only time it seems to happen is when she wakes in the morning.  We have scheduled an appointment for her to see a Pediatric Ophthalmologist at DMC Children's Hospital in May.  We're not overly worried at this point, mostly because it's not something that happens all the time.  But the doctor expressed concerned that as she gets older it could worsen and it's often easier to correct at a younger age than it is as they grow older, the muscles can become more stubborn I suppose.  Best case scenario it will be something that can be "fixed" through Vision Therapy.  Worst case scenario means surgery but for many reasons this isn't an option for me at this point.  Mainly because she is so young and because it's not really a severe case.  I should also mention that there are a few options which fall between the best and worst case scenarios but if you read the information at the link above you can find more on the other options.

As of now we're staying positive and not worrying too much about it!