Patching really does work!

We have been patching Alayna's right eye for almost a year now.

Valentines Party at school

Her left eye has always been weaker but, today we had her three month ophthalmology appointment and the great news is her left eye is just slightly weaker now than her right.  Last appointment in the fall her left was showing 2 levels weaker!

Yahoo!   It has really changed in the last 3 months!

That darn patching is working!

I am thankful to the preK crew as they patch her while she is in school each day.  mwah!

The Dr. wants to continue patching her for the couple hours a day as her left is still lagging behind the right.

I did ask if she could predict how long we will be patching and she couldn't give me an estimate.  She said eyes continue to develop until around age 8 so we could be patching a minimal amount up until then.

For Alayna's sake I hope that the next three months show as much progress and we can either stop or decrease the amount of time she is in a patch per week.

the girls passing out their Valentines to their classmates

We hope you have a great Valentine's Day!

Post surgery opthalmology

Alayna had her follow up appointment with her ophthalmologist today.

Her eye is straight and very much in line now after surgery.  The doctor was very pleased with the surgery outcome.  However, Alayna is still favoring her right eye, albeit slightly over her left so we must continue with the dreaded patching everyday.  She has gotten out of the routine with our beach trip and all but refused to wear the patch last week for my mom while I had treatment.

Thankfully Alayna starts school next week and is usually very good about leaving the patch on during school hours which is plenty of time each day for her to wear it.

We will follow up with both girls at the end of October for their yearly vision checks.  Dariya's poor glasses are so out of shape they hardly fit her anymore.  Hopefully by then Alayna's brain will kick in and recognize that left eye so we can stop patching!

Eye patch struggles

We had a great run the first few weeks of Alayna leaving her eye patch on during the 5-6 hours each morning she is supposed to wear it.  But, lately she has taken it off,  or instructed her sister to do the dirty work, numerous times each morning while at home.  She is leaving it on during preschool but taking it off on the bus ride home.

So today before she left for school we pumped her up and offered a reward (not really knowing what that reward might be) for leaving her eye patch on "like a big girl" until MOMMY took it off.  So when she got off the bus today with her eye patch on AND her socks and shoes still on.

We celebrated.

I did a happy dance, Daddy did a happy dance when he came home for lunch and then Alayna told him to give her a kiss "on the lips."  So that it just what daddy did.  One big kiss right on the lips and she was a happy girl.

Rewards come in small packages around here folks.

Hopefully it will motivate her for a while!

Pucker up Dad!

The pirate look is in

The girls had their check up with the ophthalmologist Tuesday morning.  Dariya's glasses are working well and her eyes look really good.

However, Alayna's left eye has amblyopia (lazy eye) it turns in slightly especially when she is tired, even with her glasses.  The doctor originally tried the glasses hoping that would solve the problem.

The doctor admitted that her amblyopia isn't too bad but she didn't want to ignore it and have it get worse. We will patch her right eye for 5-6 hours daily in hopes that her brain will get her left eye working up to full strength.  We will follow up in May with the ophthalmologist.  Praying that the patching works quickly!

We are hoping that this takes care of the issue and that she doesn't need any further correcting like surgery.

Thankfully when I showed her a patch she immediately related it to a little girl that goes to our church who uses patches.  When the time came for me to put a patch on she was all ready and prepared then after about 5 minutes she wanted it taken off.  However, she was easily distracted and left it alone and went off to school and came home happily wearing the patch.  I intended to take it off right when she arrived home but she didn't seem bothered by it and didn't ask about it so I left it on for another hour then took it off.

Once off she wanted it back on.  Funny girl.  I am guessing she got some extra attention at school today from it and loved the attention.

Hope each day goes as smoothly.