Monday, September 28, 2009

Great news

Today we had a really good appointment with the ophthalmologist. Of course in the rush to get us all out the door this am, I forgot my camera! Gabe was such a good boy! I still can't believe it. He did everything the doctor asked him to do, including putting his chin on the eye contraption. The doctor was amazed and thought when he saw that a 3 yr old was coming in, that we would just be chatting and would have to put him under to do any type of exam! He was awesome! Of course he captured everyone's heart.
I was very happy with this place also. It was very large and they had a section for the kids to wait with a large train table. So, that made waiting easier on all of us.
The good news is that Gabe's surgery seemed to be a success and his pressure is at a good place. He is very near sighted so if things are too far away from him they become blurry. The doctor really thinks that glasses will help him a great deal!
The negative is that it will not be 20/20 and he would have liked to see him have the surgery he had at 8 months earlier, so there was some damage done.
The ladies who helped to fit him for his glasses were so cute. They were amazed at how he tried glasses on and kept them on. When they saw the prescription they were so excited for him saying, "Wow! He is going to see so much!" I am thinking the prescription is pretty strong! They all want to be there when he gets his glasses. They said that that is why they do the work they do.
They were all very helpful and caring.
I also asked about certain medications. Before we left for China, I was looking at cold medicines to take for him (just in case) and most of them say not to use if you have glaucoma. So, I didn't take any. The doctor said that with some types of glaucoma you should not take those meds, but not with his kind. So, he is free to take some cold meds-which he needs as he has quite the cough and runny nose esp at night.
I can't wait to post of pic of our little man with his new specs! He looked sooooo cute. Here is a couple of pics of him-see how close he has to look to see things...



My next post will be pics of Gabe in his new cool dude glasses. The doc does want to see him in 3-4 months to get a better more accurate pressure reading. This will be done under anesthesia at the hospital.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Opthamologist appt

Gabe has his first opthamologist appt. tomorrow am. I have no idea what to expect from this appointment. I can't imagine they are going to be able to get much info from a 3.5 yr old who can't understand or speak a lick of english! I hope to get some of my questions answered. I hope they can tell me how his pressure is now and if he needs any medications to keep his pressure good. I would also like to know if glasses can possibly help his vision at all.

Friday, September 25, 2009

New Blog

Tonight I decided to start a new blog. My old blog will be family related and this blog is the one I am going to use to document life with Gabe and his vision loss due to congenital glaucoma. I hope this blog can help other with biological or adopted children living with this eye condition.

A little about our Gabe.
Gabe was born (or developed at a very early age) congenital glaucoma of both eyes. At 8 months old he received and operation of the trabeculum section of his eyes. Little is known of his other health or eye care since that time as Gabe was adopted on 9/16/09 by our family. As of right now we are confidant that Gabe's vision is very good, but there is some loss. He bends in very close to see details in things and is very slow to try anything new that he cannot see. He is very cautious of stairs and changes in flooring (ie different color carpet or going from tile to carpet).

We hope to find out what exactly his vision is or course of treatment on Monday when he has his first ophthalmologist appt. with a pediatric ophthalmologist and glaucoma specialist.