Tomorrow is a big day.
KJ was diagnosed with intermittent esotropia, a form of strabismus, at 6 months of age. I first noticed his eyes turning inward at 6 weeks, and we have been seeing a pediatric ophthalmologist since he turned 4 months old. Now I feel like we are old friends.
Many moms (including my own) told me early on that I had nothing to worry about. His eyes were fine. Crossed eyes are common. They will straighten out on their own. A few friends also told me they were sure their own kids were cross-eyed during their first year, and then all of a sudden they weren’t. But the frequency of KJ’s eye-crossing and the degree to which the eyes turned inward were a big concern for me. This was different than the occasional eye-crossing we had seen in our daughter as a newborn. And so, I brought it up to our pediatrician at his four-month well check. She referred us to a specialist saying, “It may be nothing, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
At the first mention of surgery back in February, I fell apart in the doctor’s office. I was sad, scared, nervous and helpless. And the doctor said to me, “Mom, you are doing everything you can for your baby. Because you detected this early, we can save his vision.” Apparently when babies are that young, their eyes are still developing connections to the brain, and when babies have strabismus, oftentimes babies will begin to prefer to use one eye over the other. The eye preference can shut down the unused eye’s connections to the brain, sometimes causing amblyopia (a.k.a. “lazy eye”) and may also make binocular vision (using both eyes) more difficult in the future.
We began patch therapy at 6 months, patching one eye per day for four wakeful hours a day, alternating the patches each day. The goal was to have him continue using both eyes (not developing an eye preference), thereby saving his vision. All this from the guy who went to medical school. I don’t know anything about science — I was an English major.
I spent a few extra bucks on the cute patches to make myself feel better. As it turns out, I am vain and these cute little designs help me get through the day.
Now that we have been through eight months of eye tests, patch therapy, and have had enough time to process news of the condition and procedure, we (as in the parents) are ready. In fact, when I received the call this week that there was a cancellation and we could move up the surgery one week, I was thrilled. One less week of anticipation and the surgery looming over our heads. Let’s get this show on the road.
And so tomorrow is the big day. The surgery itself is only about a half hour, and the doctor promised to have us bedside immediately after so that KJ will see us when he comes out of anesthesia. There will be a series of follow-up appointments (the ophthalmologist will actually follow KJ’s progress until he is school-aged), and though we will see a change immediately, we will not know if he will need an additional surgery until at least six weeks after the procedure. There is an 80% success rate, so we are praying for good results.
Here’s to our little trooper. I’m sure he’ll be flirting with the nurses in recovery.
pomegranate / 3779 posts
Good luck!
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
Wonderful news!!
I have a close family member who had this. It was untreated, and he ended up losing the vision in his “lazy eye”. So it’s wonderful that you have such a good chance of saving your son’s vision!
squash / 13208 posts
Good Luck tomorrow!!!
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
Praying for you guys!
pineapple / 12053 posts
my brother had patches and surgery 25+ years ago and it worked great! praying that it is a success!
coconut / 8279 posts
gosh what a cutie!
My brother has this – and he’s (legally) blind in one eye. Back in the early 80s the surgery wasn’t that common and my parents opted to try with patch therapy but it didn’t work for him long-term.
Will be thinking of you sending love & prayers!
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
Good luck!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
Good luck!! I will be thinking of you and KJ sending well wishes
pomelo / 5084 posts
Best of luck to your family! Update us!!
pomegranate / 3225 posts
Good to “hear” from you! All the best.
kiwi / 656 posts
I had this when I was little and I had surgery when I was 4. Even having the surgery that early I still have one eye that is noticeably weaker than the other (though NOT legally blind!)
I have some memories of the surgery (before/after) but I think the whole experience was way more traumatic for my poor mama than it was for me. I know they have gotten much better at the surgery in the last 25 years+, though!
I will say prayers that all goes smoothly as I am sure it will. good luck!!
honeydew / 7444 posts
Good luck!
Your son is lucky to have such a great mom. You were able to catch this early on and will save his vision. Sending you positive vibes for his surgery tomorrow.
apricot / 428 posts
good luck!!! may I ask how you’re preparing him for it?
apricot / 334 posts
good luck, will be thinking of your adorable LO!!
coconut / 8079 posts
Good luck tomorrow! I hope everything goes smoothly and he has an easy recovery!
apricot / 457 posts
Good luck to you and your son!
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
Good luck!!
persimmon / 1364 posts
Good luck!!! Sending your little guy good vibes. Stay strong mama!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
Thinking of you! Good luck tomorrow.
blogger / pomegranate / 3044 posts
Good luck tomorrow! He is just the cutest. Hope it goes as smoothly as possible
grapefruit / 4717 posts
Good luck. Will be thinking of you.
grapefruit / 4731 posts
Good luck! Sorry that you have to go through this.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
Good luck tomorrow! Thinking of you guys
blogger / persimmon / 1220 posts
Thank you all for the well wishes!
persimmon / 1129 posts
Good luck to your sweet boy! My daughter has accommodative estropia for far-sightedness and has been in glasses since her first birthday. She patched for about a year and surgery was always (and still is) a potential. I’ve found the website and Facebook group “Little Four Eyes” to be so helpful- it’s for parents of kids with glasses and other vision problems.
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
Sending you my best and fervently praying for a great surgery tomorrow for all involved!
pomelo / 5621 posts
Good luck
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
Thinking of you!!
blogger / apricot / 367 posts
Your son is such a cutie. Hope that all goes well tomorrow and sending you wishes for a speedy recovery!
clementine / 878 posts
Those eye patches ARE cute! But of course hoping surgery is a big success! Good job mommy for keeping on top of it.
bananas / 9973 posts
Good Luck!!!
honeydew / 7968 posts
Wow, great catch! My fear as a mom is that I wouldn’t notice something wrong w my child and it goes untreated. Good luck w surgery! Hoping it’s a success w quick recovery.
blogger / kiwi / 675 posts
Good luck!!
guest
Lots of luck!
guest
Good luck to both you and your son!
I am sure things are much better now with the prognosis and kudos to you for going with your guy and getting on this right away!!
Good luck tomorrow!
I had this when I was younger, it is so obvious to me when looking at baby/toddler photos but nothing really was done until I was 18 months. I had surgery and then after that did the patches. I was older though when I remember the patches, like 4-6 yo range so I would hide in my play room and take them off. Currently, I have little to no vision in one eye, though the surgery fixed the cosmetic looks to it, and I have the normal muscle control so it isn’t “lazy”. I manage fine, but can’t watch 3D movies and have really bad depth perception, since those both require your eyes to work together and mine don’t. Otherwise, a perfectly normal life
apricot / 301 posts
Good luck!
blogger / grape / 92 posts
I hope recovery is going well! This was my same experience as a child. My first surgery was just before I turned one. I had patch therapy throughout grade school (which I remember hating so much, despite Scooby Doo patches) and then a follow up surgery when I was about 16. It’s been so nice to finally see proper depth perception, I never could have realized what it was like prior to my last surgery. Hopefully this will just become a blip on your radar and very soon you’ll have a child with much more functional vision
blogger / nectarine / 2687 posts
We just started patching with CG (she had some patching in Korea, too) and surgery will be likely sometime in the future, but we’re not sure exactly when. Would love to know how KJ is doing post-op!