Update on Gray's Eyes

The pediatrician gave us the name of a new ophthalmologist on Tuesday and we were able to see her on Thursday. She's an associate professor for UT Southwestern and Dr. Minsky said she was very "sweet." He was right and we liked her a lot.

She took a look at Gray's eyes and confirmed the other doctor's diagnosis. She let me look at his eyes and drew a picture to explain what I saw. Then she spent some time talking about the problem using a poster that illustrate eye problems and how it would be fixed.

Cataracts: The lenses are cloudy and light isn't able to get through them, which causes very low vision.
Dislocated lenses: The muscles that hold the lens in place are broken or not strong enough in Gray's eyes to hold the lenses properly.

Solution: In a typical cataract surgery they would replace the natural lenses with a plastic lens. However, since the muscles that hold the lens don't work properly in Gray's eyes they would have to sew the lenses into place. This only lasts about 20 years right now and would mean his lenses couldn't be changed as his eye changes. Instead they'll remove his natural lenses and Gray will wear contact lenses instead of having new lenses implanted. When his eyes have finished growing he'll have another surgery to implant plastic lenses.

She explained that we need to have the surgery done soon to prevent it from affecting his vision. His eyes are starting to pull in a little already, but not so much that we're concerned about permanent damage at this time.

We felt much more comfortable with the surgery after the doctor took the time to explain it to us. Her office will call today or Monday to schedule the surgery. Now I have to call and cancel the surgery with our old doctor.

After the surgery Kenny and I will have to learn to care for his contact lenses. He'll require some eye drops for the first few weeks, too. The doctor also recommended that he be remove from daycare for a few weeks to allow the eyes to heal without the exposure to all of the daycare germs. I think Kenny's parents will be coming back to stay with us after the surgery so we can go back to work and Gray can stay home. That makes me a little sad because I think he really likes daycare.

We also got in touch with Kenny's retina specialist in Houston. Dr. Holz isn't taking new patients until November, but based on Kenny's history he wanted to see Gray next week.

We'll be traveling to Houston on Tuesday night for an appointment bright and early Wednesday morning. It's going to be a whirlwind trip. Nate will be staying with friends and we'll have to come back quickly so we don't disrupt their schedule too much.

Its amazing how you can find God's blessings, like our friends and family, in situations like these.