Update on Millie's Eye

For those who are wondering...here is an update (in a nutshell) on Millie's eye.

(isn't she cute?? I love her!)

We finally got her into the doctor here.  There are only a handful, and of course, we wanted the best care (as any parent would) for our Millie...so we waited and waited.  

Got her in.  

He answered lots of unanswered questions, although there is still some unknown.

He evaluated her.
Her pressure was up.  37!!!  It's supposed to be below 20.  We are now putting drops in her eye twice a day.  Since the first appointment we've had her pressure checked again, 15-17.  The drops are working! No surgery. 

She has a condition called PHPV.  It stands for Persistent Hyperplastic Primary Vitreous.  Which is where the space at the back of the eye, behind the lens, is normally filled with a clear jelly.  This jelly is called the vitreous.  Millie was born with a hazy, scarred vitreous.

She also has optic nerve hypoplasia.  Her optic nerve didn't fully develop.  At this time, we (meaning the doctor) don't know how developed it is.  Time will tell. 

They don't know what caused it.  It is just a birth defect.  Her eye just didn't grow normally in those first few weeks of development.  

Now, she wears a contact, because her lens in her eye is gone.  This contact takes place of the lens.  Did you ever know that babies could wear contacts?  Neither did we.  Do we hate changing it?  YES!  Are we good at changing it everyday?  No.  But we are trying to get better.  It is complete torture to us, as parents, and to Millie as well.  So we try to take it out and clean it once a week.  Then we'll move it to every three days and hopefully we'll get so good at taking it out and putting it in that it will become part of our daily and nightly routine.  Baby steps.  Baby steps.  

We will continue to have her pressure checked.  And hopefully it stays down.  If not, she will have to get surgery...we are hoping and praying that it continues to do well.  And so far it has!  

We are still patching Millie's good eye.  (is that horrible I call it the 'good' eye and the 'bad' eye?)  This strengthens the defective eye so that it will follow with the other eye and give her the best possible vision for her.  She doesn't like it, and will pull of the patch.  We are getting really good at distracting her!

Can she see? Yes, she can see perfectly.  Just with one eye, and possibly with the other...just not like as you and I see with both eyes.  But hey, she doesn't know any different.  So how she sees is how you and I see.  She does run into walls, tables, chairs, etc. quite often, but who knows if that is due to her eye or just because. 

So that's the update. 

I always tell myself...it could be worse!  We are so grateful and blessed!

see more about her eye. here.