Neve turned six on August 1st! It was a wonderful day celebrating this
spunky girl. However, we were especially
excited to welcome six as it marks one of the first milestones she has achieved
where the risk of recurrence drops significantly.
The next day, August 2nd, we traveled to
Cincinnati for her cataract procedure.
The boys joined us this time, which was nice for Neve to have her
brothers there too. The procedure went
really well. The doctor reported that
there was an outer layer of basically scar tissue developing that he was able
to clean up and repair. He had to
approach the procedure from a different angle than intended, but was able to
accomplish the procedure successfully.
Little did we know the hardest part was yet to come. Neve needed to keep her eye patch on
overnight and refrain from active movement. For a girl who skips everywhere, I have to
admit she did a great job of following instructions.
We stayed the night in Cincinnati as Neve had a follow-up
appointment the following day. The kids
loved staying in a hotel. It didn’t
matter where we were, as long as there was a pool and a smart TV with Netflix,
they were living large.
During the follow-up appointment we talked with the Dr.
about the current status of Neve’s vision.
The good news is that she has some vision, but the tough part is that
with prescription she can only see large letters four feet or less in front of
her. The Dr. prepared us that we may
need to consider patching her good eye to help strengthen the right eye. There
was a lot to digest about what was to come.
We decided to focus on the immediate and ensure Neve did the right
things to heal from the cataract procedure.
Neve received the all-clear to begin skipping again. YAY!
The following week was mainly focused on keeping Neve still,
copious amounts of eye drops, and keeping her eye protected with her glasses
during the day and a protective patch at night. Clay ended up taking the boys to WI for
Granny’s birthday weekend, while Neve and I stayed back to help focus on her
healing. It was hard not being in WI,
but a trip to the Cake Bake Shop certainly helped!
August 8th took us back to Cincinnati for her one-week
follow-up. Dr. Yang examined Neve’s eye
and it was healing right on track. As a
result, he recommended we begin to patch her left eye on a regular basis. For the patching to have an impact, it is
recommended to patch 4-6 hours a day for up to six weeks. That timing is considered one cycle. Depending on how the first cycle goes, it may
be necessary to complete two or three cycles.
It was a lot to take in and we were not sure how we were going to make
it work, but we knew we had to attempt the patching to give her right eye a
shot at the best vision possible.
Neve received a new prescription for the right lens which we
needed to have filled as soon as possible in order to begin the patching
process. Who knew that the type of lens
she needed was not something commonly carried at your neighborhood Lens
Crafters. Over the course of the next
five hours, we visited one Cinci Lens Crafters, had her prescription filled
only to find out there was a defect in the lens and they couldn’t sell it to
us. At this point we decided to head back to Indy and deal with it when we got
home. To be proactive we started call
Indy Lens Crafters from the car; we called not one, not two, not three, but
FIVE Indy area Lens Crafters only to find out that NO ONE carried the specific
lens she needed. We stopped on I-70 and
called on more Lens Crafters stores in Cinci until we found one out near Kings
Island that had the lens in stock. Not
only did they have the lens we needed but they could process our order so
everything was ready to go when we got there.
Thank goodness for Hannah at that store.
She saved our day. We went from
hating Lens Crafters to loving them in a matter of minutes.
The next few weeks were filled with eye drops, patching and
back to school. Ripping off the summer
bandaid is hard enough. Managing all the
eye care has added a whole new level of focus to our days. We keep reminding ourselves that this is only
temporary and it’s so worth it to give her eye the best opportunity for
improving her vision. Through it all Neve
has been such a trooper. She never
complains about the patch and is always ready to receive her eye drops. In fact, over these four weeks, she’s figured
out how to maneuver around the house with her patch on, essentially sightless,
using her heightened sense of hearing, smell and touch.
August 29th we headed back to Cinci for her four
week follow-up. The Dr. examined her eye
and was surprised to see that two areas of the new lens are sticking to the
iris preventing the pupil from fully dilating.
As a result, he recommended an intensive eye drop regiment of a
combination of three different eye drops to help loosen those two areas. We will continue these drops over the next 10
days. If it doesn’t work, we may need to
have another procedure to address the “stuck” areas.
During this visit he also tested her vision and it doesn’t
appear to be much changed; however, we have noticed that she seemed to be able
to view the images more clearly than before.
He instructed us to keep up with the drops and continue the patching.
To be honest, we felt overwhelmed at all the care her eye
needs over the coming weeks. We have a
massive spreadsheet to help track what’s happening and when, which drops are
needed at what time. We know we can do
it. She’s come this far and has overcome
so many hurdles. We know she’ll face
this one head on as well.
As we head into the next few weeks, we are praying for
patience - patience with the process, drops, patching and with each other. We also pray for healing of the eye after the
cataract procedure and healing of her vision in the right eye.
Thank you for being with us on this journey. Your love and support help in more ways than
you know.
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