Eye update

Anna had a follow-up appointment today with her primary ophthalmologist.  (I think I can finally type that word correctly without spellcheck!  And who would have thought she would have a primary ophthalmologist?)  Three things were on the slate for today: eyelid cyst, double vision, and cataracts.

First things first, the cyst needs to be removed surgically.  It probably first started growing last summer when Anna was having all of the styes on her eyelids, but this one was deep inside the tissue and no one could see it.  Three week ago when we first noticed the bruising around her eye was when the cyst finally broke through the connective tissue membrane that separates the lid from the muscles (I think?).  Everything that we see now (which is a lot) has been around for 6-8 months, we just haven't been able to see it.  The antibiotics and warm compresses have no effect and it won't go away on its own.  So surgery it is.

Who knows if Anna would have had issues with styes had cancer and its treatments not happened?  According to this doctor, they are considered common in kids Anna's age, being caused by plugged oil glands that then create an over-reaction by the immune system.  I guess this is one of those things we will never know.

Second, according to this doctor's measurements, Anna's double vision has actually gotten worse than it was in December, contrary to what the vision therapist told us a few weeks ago.  This doctor has not pushed for a surgical way to fix Anna's double vision in the past because he didn't see a real need to have her undergo surgery and anesthesia if she didn't need it.  However, since Anna needs the other surgery, he asked if we would like to correct her double vision at the same time with surgery to the muscles.

Side note ... the ophthalmologist and I had a very good conversation, probably one of the best we've had.  I was able to ask a lot of questions that he answered as thoroughly as he could.  After this appointment, I feel that I have a much better relationship with this particular specialist than I did before.

Back to the matter at hand, at the appointment, I told the doctor we would want to talk things over as a family before we made our final decision.  After speaking with Matt and Anna, I think we are going to combine the two surgeries.  The vision therapy seems to be hit or miss on its improvement; it's a lot of work; it is not covered by insurance; and Anna will need surgery on her eyes anyway.

Third item, cataracts.  Anna's cataracts are definitely "radiation" cataracts, meaning they were caused by her total head radiation treatments.  They are of medium size at this point, but the doctor was surprised by how much they had grown since December.  Since Anna's last radiation treatment was three years ago, the cataracts should be done growing.  They are not causing Anna major vision problems at this point and the doctor recommended just leaving them be for now.  He will continue to monitor them and we will all remain hopeful that Anna will not need to have cataract surgery.  Although this type of surgery is fairly commonplace for older adults, it's a bit different for kids and we would like to avoid it if we can.

As for the surgery, we will get a call in the next few days to set it up.  Most likely it will take place in May and Anna will be out of school for up to a week recovering.  Oh, well.  There's never really a "good" time for something like this to happen.  We will just use whatever leverage we can to avoid Anna missing some of the more memorable days at the end of the school year.

That's enough of that.

In spite of a nasty cold going through our home in the last two weeks, here are a handful of pictures of our family enjoying the gorgeous spring weather anyway.

Kate decided last week that she likes swinging again.  Last summer she didn't like hearing the squeakiness of swings, but this year the fun seems to have outweighed the discomfort. 

All three kids spent several hours swinging over the course of last week :)

Friday night we opted for a family campfire instead of a movie night or a game night.

Of course we had s'mores, but only after certain individuals ran around the yard or back and forth in the field first.

Then we practiced balancing around the perennial garden, except for Anna, who is hiding under the blanket to keep the smoke out of her face.

In the last week, I've also been able to till up the garden and get the first round of things planted.  Broccoli, peapods, potatoes, onions, and beets are all in.  We are expecting some rain this week so hopefully those veggies will be up sometime soon.  Once the broccoli seedlings were out of the basement, I was able to start the tomato and squash seeds.  The fruit trees are flowering and the spring weather simply brightens up our spirits!