Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The eyes have it

Today was Will's 6 month ophthalmology appointment. Lucky me, we were running a little late to the appointment (ME?!!) and they are doing a ton of construction on Erwin Road right in front of the Duke Eye Center. Argh. We got there, though, so that's a step in the right direction.

Of all the doctor appointments that we go to, the ophthalmology appointments seem to take the longest because you have to wait for the eyes to dilate in between exams. Will did pretty well though, he continues to show visual acuity improvements... and although his vision is not "normal," he continues to improve. Yay!

Will's cortical visual impairment is still considered to be "mild" and his near-sightedness has not gotten worse since the last time they dilated his eyes a year ago. I had thought we might come out of this appointment with glasses to correct for Will's near-sightedness, but I think this before every eye appointment and we always come home without them. They did note that Will has an astigmatism in both eyes... thanks Grandpa Harry! Just kidding.

Will does have intermittent eye misalignment. While he is looking at something with both of his eyes, sometimes his right eye wanders a little bit. The doctor told me today that because Will's eye moves all over the place, surgery isn't a good option for him. If his eye was permanently misaligned, they could do surgery to shorten the muscle that holds the eye in place to correct it. But because Will's moves, surgery would have no benefit. The fact of the matter is that Will has a muscle control disorder, and it takes muscle control to keep your eyes straight!!

So we left the appointment with a clean bill of eye health, no surgery date, and a follow up appointment in January 2010. I'll take it! Below is a picture of Will hanging out this morning, waiting for his eyes to dilate... so patient!

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