The right eye was operated on this morning.
Much like the first surgery, all was well. Dr. McGuire doesn't like to jinx himself... but he described last weeks surgery as almost perfect... and he described this week as very similar to last week.
All good news.
We have had 3 post ops since his first surgery. At each one, Dr. McGuire does an exam, tears, blood and urine are collected, and visual acuity is tested.
We have more post ops planned, which will tell us the status of the surgery itself.
Prior to the first surgery, Nomi had no real idea of what was to happen. Afterwards, Nomi understood that he went to sleep, and after going to sleep he had "shurgery". During the surgery, Dr. McGuire trims Nomis eyelashes to prevent infection, and this is what "shurgery" has come to mean to Nomi. He keeps asking if they are growing back yet.
Yesterday, at Nomaans pre op, he insisted on wearing his Halloween costume. Everyone at the hospital enjoyed it. As we were leaving, there was a camera crew shooting a promo video for the hospital, and asked if they could video tape Nomaan. He was shy, but he let them do it. He wore the costume until bed time. He wanted to wear it again today, but luckily, he was so sleepy when we woke him up he forgot about it.
He came out of surgery fine. On the way back to the hotel, he was much more anxious than he was last week. This is probably due in part because he always relied more on his right eye than his left. And now the right has to be patched for 24 hours. At night, both eyes will have to be patched. This will really limit his mobility.
Now that the surgery is over, we can take a major breath. The hard part is over. Now we will have to wait and see what exactly happens with his vision.
It's complex, and there is much going on that affects the outcome.
First, there is the obvious, the condition itself, and if and how well it will respond to the treatment.
Second, there is the trauma of the surgery. This is a rather invasive procedure. The eye needs to heal.
Third, the post op medications. The eye drops can cause blurry vision at times, especially since he is required to put them in three times a day.
Fourth, there is a psycho somatic portion to this treatment. His eyes have not properly functioned since his birth.
The brain has adapted to interpret the visual impulses it was receiving from "damaged tissue." Once the eye starts to function better, the brain needs to relearn how to interpret this new data.
There is also an issue someone described to us, in which the brain starts to misinterpret signals when only one eye has been treated and the other remains untreated. This is no longer an issue as of today, but may have affected the last week when only his left eye was treated.
Lastly, he is only 6 years old. If and when he starts to see things differently, will he just go about his day and do things with better sight, or will he stop and notice, and better yet, verbalize the difference? There is no way to know.
Ideally, it takes 7 to 14 days to see results. That means by next Thursday, the 7th, we may, emphasis on may, start seeing some results. To be sure, the extensive testing that was done during baseline will be repeated the first week of December. This will give us actual data to see how he has responded.
We will keep you all posted. Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers.
Much like the first surgery, all was well. Dr. McGuire doesn't like to jinx himself... but he described last weeks surgery as almost perfect... and he described this week as very similar to last week.
All good news.
We have had 3 post ops since his first surgery. At each one, Dr. McGuire does an exam, tears, blood and urine are collected, and visual acuity is tested.
We have more post ops planned, which will tell us the status of the surgery itself.
Prior to the first surgery, Nomi had no real idea of what was to happen. Afterwards, Nomi understood that he went to sleep, and after going to sleep he had "shurgery". During the surgery, Dr. McGuire trims Nomis eyelashes to prevent infection, and this is what "shurgery" has come to mean to Nomi. He keeps asking if they are growing back yet.
Yesterday, at Nomaans pre op, he insisted on wearing his Halloween costume. Everyone at the hospital enjoyed it. As we were leaving, there was a camera crew shooting a promo video for the hospital, and asked if they could video tape Nomaan. He was shy, but he let them do it. He wore the costume until bed time. He wanted to wear it again today, but luckily, he was so sleepy when we woke him up he forgot about it.
He came out of surgery fine. On the way back to the hotel, he was much more anxious than he was last week. This is probably due in part because he always relied more on his right eye than his left. And now the right has to be patched for 24 hours. At night, both eyes will have to be patched. This will really limit his mobility.
Now that the surgery is over, we can take a major breath. The hard part is over. Now we will have to wait and see what exactly happens with his vision.
It's complex, and there is much going on that affects the outcome.
First, there is the obvious, the condition itself, and if and how well it will respond to the treatment.
Second, there is the trauma of the surgery. This is a rather invasive procedure. The eye needs to heal.
Third, the post op medications. The eye drops can cause blurry vision at times, especially since he is required to put them in three times a day.
Fourth, there is a psycho somatic portion to this treatment. His eyes have not properly functioned since his birth.
The brain has adapted to interpret the visual impulses it was receiving from "damaged tissue." Once the eye starts to function better, the brain needs to relearn how to interpret this new data.
There is also an issue someone described to us, in which the brain starts to misinterpret signals when only one eye has been treated and the other remains untreated. This is no longer an issue as of today, but may have affected the last week when only his left eye was treated.
Lastly, he is only 6 years old. If and when he starts to see things differently, will he just go about his day and do things with better sight, or will he stop and notice, and better yet, verbalize the difference? There is no way to know.
Ideally, it takes 7 to 14 days to see results. That means by next Thursday, the 7th, we may, emphasis on may, start seeing some results. To be sure, the extensive testing that was done during baseline will be repeated the first week of December. This will give us actual data to see how he has responded.
We will keep you all posted. Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers.
No comments:
Post a Comment