Mermaid of the Sea
Carmen update: Carmen’s pediatrician called and Carmen still has C-diff. We are starting another round of Vancomycin. Her doctor recommended starting VSL#3, a probiotic with 450 billion live bacteria per packet. Carmen has also developed a yeast infection on her leg. The area stays clean and dry so I have no idea how this happened. We are putting Nystatin on the area and will continue loading her up with probiotics. Hopefully something will help. Please pray for Carmen.
I took Lauren in for her pediatric opthamologist follow-up. She is seeing 20/30 and 20/50 with her glasses. We will go back for another visit in two months. If her vision with glasses hasn’t improved, she will have to wear an eye patch for a few hours per day. She does not like that idea at all so we are praying that her vision improves! If she does have to wear an eye patch, I hope it is pink and sparkly!
While at Lauren’s follow-up visit, I asked the doctor if he could take a look in Carmen’s eyes. He was happy to check her. He turned off the lights and looked in her eyes with a very bright light. Carmen’s eyelids did not even flutter. He said that most likely she does not see anything. A year ago Carmen was still tracking objects. This disease progresses so quickly and so relentlessly.
Thank you Wendy for watching Carmen on Monday so I could take Lauren out! Lauren was very happy to have “mommy-time” and totally enjoyed her Panera Cinnamon Crunch bagel!
Yesterday as I was unpacking my grocery bags, Lauren saw a can of tuna. She looked very worried and upset and asked, “Mom, you aren’t going to cook a mermaid, are you?” I love 4 year olds!!!
that mermaid comment is one of the most precious things i have ever heard
Just so you have some family history, I used to wear a patch. I had a lazy eye. The patch helped but the sooner you can have it done, the better. I have some vision loss because Mom and Dad didn’t know I had it till I went to school. My vision also got a little better when we went to the chiropracter. I still have some loss of vision so if they think she needs a patch, do it soon. The longer you wait, the more chance of vision loss. There are receptors in the eye that need to develop while she is young. If they aren’t developed, they are permanently lost. I don’t want to scare you but if they think she might need a patch, do it soon. I am an example of not doing it soon enough. Back then they didn’t know to much about it but now they do. I have vision in the eye but it’s not what it should be and it can’t be corrected with glasses. As I get older, I have a little more trouble than when I was younger. I will be praying for you all.
lauren is a hoot
praying for carmen.
My 4yo DD made the same comment the other day about the tuna can. Too cute.
I will keep praying for Carman and all of you. God bless. In Christ, Joe
I will keep praying for Carmen, and for you all! It was such a joy to be able to help you even a little bit, please let me do it again soon! love, wendy
I continue to pray for Carmen. I would love to hang out with Carmen for some ‘girl time’. She’s an excellent snuggler.
monica
Hi, I hope you don’t mind me commenting on your blog. I’ve been following your story and praying for your family for about two months, now. I came across this tutorial for eye-patches just last night and thought I’d pass it on to you.
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/05/how_to_sew_an_eyepatch.html
Also, in reading casually about them (for my daughter who likes to be a pirate with her brothers) I also read that many moms dressed up their daughters dolls and stuffed animals with eye-patches when they were sad that they had to wear them, or embarrassed by them.
Just a thought.
God Bless You.
Our daughter had to wear an eye patch, and it really did help her vision–at least, it helped her left eye develop enough so that she could use that eye if she had to (her brain more or less ignores that eye now). We first went to an optometrist when our daughter was five. He just kept giving her stronger glasses–we missed out a year of effective treatment that way.
Then we went to an ophthalmologist who recommended patching. The patching was what really made a difference. Her vision improved a lot. Also, after awhile when she really didn’t want to wear a patch the ophthalmologist let us put prescription eye drops to blur the vision in her good eye so she would have to use the other. It had the same effect as a patch.
After she was 11 or so they didn’t treat any more as the eye was about as good as it was going to get, and it wouldn’t get any worse from disuse.
Still praying for your family!
Carolyn
I was patched at 4 yrs of age for a long, long time because of strabismus (better known as cross-eyed) one hour a day. I got so used to it that sometimes I would be outside playing and keep it on for much longer than that. It was just a part of my routine. It never really bothered me that much.
When my friends were around I always played the part of the pirate.
I also lost much of the sight in my left eye again because it was really too late to do much good other than bring my left eye into line with the right one. I still see only the big E and that is mostly because I know it is there. I see it but in a double-vision kind of way. I can tell it is the E but it looks like it has several small lines off of it.
I have been told that in this day and age I would have had surgery and would have kept more of my sight, but patching was all they knew about when I was little.