The drive to Royal Oak, MI is always long. We headed out on Monday, August 23rd. We drove to Springfield, IL and stayed at our favorite Candlewood Suites hotel. They have everything we need for an overnight stay - Fridge, microwave, plenty of table/chair space, and washer/dryers.
We got to try out Carver's new Special Tomatoe seat - attached to a regular chair. It worked out great.
We got up early Tuesday morning and finished our drive to Troy, MI. We stayed at our usual Candlewood Suites. The EUA's were scheduled for 6:30 am (5:30 am CST) on Wednesday, August 25th. We were tired after 2 days of driving, but managed to get up on time. Kinnick's eyes didn't show any change. Carver's eyes didn't show any change except the sponge that was previously placed behind his left eye had come loose. Dr. Drenser removed the sponge. This just required a small incision in the eye. The Dr. gave us some ointment to put in the eye to help any discomfort. Carver handled the surgery with no problems, and has recovered just fine. He was happy the entire trip. Dr. Drenser talked to us about some things that are in the works and waiting for approval. One is a retinal chip that could be placed in the eye and would work similar to Carver's Cochlear Implant, but would be for vision. The other was a laser surgery - similar to the old PRK (prior to LASIK). This would alter the cornea so that contact lenses wouldn't be necessary for a child that has had their lens removed. This would take the place of contact lenses and would offer constant "best possible" vision at all times. No more losing contacts and torturing your child putting contact lenses in their eyes. There is still a lot of controversy over this method - similar to making kids wait until age 18 to get LASIK. Hopefully we'll hear more about this at our next visit. I asked the Dr, "What can Kinnick and Carver see with the condition of their eyes". Her answer was, "We just don't know". If an adult had a retinal detachment, he/she would lose complete vision very quickly - including any light perception. However, when small children have retinal detachment, they could have light perception for decades. Therefore, there is something very different about the timing of the retinal detachment and eye/brain development. So, until Kinnick or Carver can tell us exactly what they see, we just won't know.
After surgery on Wednesday, we went back to our room and cleaned up. Then, we met the Larson's (Conner's family) for lunch at their house - about 20 min from the hotel. It was a really nice visit. Kinnick loved having another "little people" to play with. She kept wanting to hug Conner and tell us where his ears are eyes were located. It was really cute. We hated to leave, but the Larson's had a back-to-school event to attend that evening.
1 comment:
Sounds like a good eye visit for the kids. I'm always interested to hear what the docs recommend for their vision. My dd was treated for ROP at Beaumont while in the NICU (we transferred from TN). We returned for about 1 year after her discharge for eye updates... then Dr. Trese asked if we wanted to just see someone local to us for further follow ups. Now we see a local retinal specialist, but I always wonder if we should have kept up our relationship with Dr. T's group.
What was the sponge placed for in Carver's eye? Just curious.
-Patty
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