An Update. Minus the Update.

Yesterday Luke and I visited with his opthomologist, Dr. Stathacopolous. Since it had been one year since his last full exam, this one was a big one. She did the "regular" battery of little tests (tracking, watching him look at things, etc.) and then dilated his poor little eyes...

Luke would only wear these long enough to take one picture. He's that tough.

We returned to her office 45 minutes later (that's how long it takes the drops to kick in) and the fun began. Luke is infamous for "burying" his eyes when he gets stressed or is tired (basically just looking as far down as his eyeballs will allow.) Unfortunately, you can hold open an eye but you can't make the eyeball look up and Luke was in full-bury mode. For what seemed like an eternity, Dr. S. held each of Luke's eyes open, light blazing, waiting for a glimpse inside while I had him on my lap, his arms pulled straight up around his head to keep them out of the way and hold his head straight. I also had to keep his left leg (he kicks when he screams) pinned down between my knees so he wouldn't kick Dr. S. in the face. He went from crying to screaming to moaning "mama, mama..." It was one of the most difficult, heart-wrenching moments of my life.

Fortunately, Dr. S. got a quick peek at each eyeball and seemed satisfied with the results (checking out the optic nerves & his prescription- it's slight.) After the chaos died down, she told me that she wants Luke to go up to Stanford and meet with their opthomologists. She admits that she does not know why Luke controls his eyes the way he does. She would love to do surgery to make control easier but there is no consistency so she doesn't know how much to shorten the eye muscles. She predicts that they will stabilize as he gets older but she wants to pick the other doctors' brains before Luke is too much older. Dr. S. doesn't want to find out later that something should have been done sooner.

We respect Dr. S.'s humble admission that she does not have all the answers. She said this is not an emergency so we hope to be in contact with Stanford next week and get an appointment set up for sometime in the near future.

The worst prognosis has already been disproved (blindness) so we're not immensely upset by this recent turn of events. Our biggest concern is what this eye control is currently doing to his balance and how it's ultimately effecting his mobility (he only rolls.) I've heard the eye muscle surgery can be very helpful in progression of movement.

We have since recovered from our stressful appointment but Luke's eyes are still slightly dilated (we were told to expect this.) We will be sure to keep everyone updated as we find out more. San Jose folks may be seeing us again sooner rather then later!