I haven’t posted a man update for a while on Emerie’s eye, so here goes. We appreciate all the prayers and people that ask how she is doing!
We had a doctor appointment earlier last week, with Craig and I finally allowed to both go (thanks covid). We assumed news of a needed next surgery was coming and happy to both be able to discuss with the doctor in person.
Emerie uncommonly walked in like a big girl, something we don’t often do when we go places with all three. She’s grown up (literally!) so much since the first time we visited and she struggled to climb into the patient room’s chair.
She followed and looked where Dr. Winkle asked her to, telling him the colors of the stickers and other details while he analyzed her eye.
He then surprised us with good news, noting that her eye is tracking better than it was on her last visit. Much of this can be attributed to daycare, where she is patching five to six hours a day; walking in the door at the daycare at 7:30 and wearing it until lunch, with another two hours or so after nap and on the way home.
She does not like it and will repeatedly ask to take it off. Not like patch and mommy can I take my patch off are muttered constantly, more some days than others- it’s good to know that the struggle is helping! She handles patch time better at daycare than at home, probably because there is more activity and distractions occurring with multiple other kiddos around. Prior to the shift to daycare, we were concerned with how well it would go and are so relieved!
She is a bit more clumsy when wearing the patch, but clearly she can see with her good eye covered. We try to encourage good behavior about it, such as letting her choose which color patch she would like for the morning or rewarding with a jelly bean when it’s easily put on. Some days she begs to take it off and sometimes we let her, simply because she asks and is so distressed over it- we try to be as good about it as possible and we’ve come so far from the days that Nanny Chris had to tape it onto her face! Emerie always insists on taking it off herself and will push her glasses to her forehead, peel it off, and carry it around as a prize for a few minutes. I’ve also found used patches stuck to book pages, forever stuck on blankets already through the wash, and in many random places around the house. She’s pretty cute about it and has become a good sport about it each day. That helps us parents so much, since it’s hard to force your kiddo to do something that you KNOW is good for them and helping in the long run, but causes so much angst and grumpiness at this age and they don’t understand why it’s necessary. This process is certainly easier than the previous year!
While we are very encouraged at a delayed surgery, we also recognize come summer there will likely be another one to fully straighten her eye out. I am thankful to not do that in the high of winter season and while covid is still raging through our community. And who knows? Maybe the patching will solve the issue by then…one can dream!
So for now, keep those prayers coming! ❤
The Douglets 