Her eyes

Part of our routine involves heading to Duke every quarter to check Darcy's eyes. 

Our first visit was just a few weeks after she came home last March.  As we began treatments ~ several types of eyedrops and two goniotomy surgeries ~ we began to see the pressure in her glaucoma affected eye start dropping.  

Unfortunately this visit we saw a pretty big increase in pressure instead of it holding steady at the "below damage level" numbers we had seen earlier this year.  I knew things weren't as good as they had been when the resident who did the initial exam took one pressure reading, started flipping through Darcy's chart, took another reading, got an ever so slight frown and took yet another reading.  Then when Dr. F came in she totally skipped checking DQ's vision (which, from the exam by the resident, seems to be holding steady at this time) and went straight to checking her eye pressure.   

 

Dr. F is concerned because of the damage done to DQ's optic nerve during the first three years of her life when the pressure ran unchecked.  And the fact that the pressure has climbed up from back in March indicates that it is time to take action.  Darcy of course was listening and is not pleased at all with the discussion of surgery (this time to implant a tiny little valve that will help control the pressure) again.  

The last option we have before surgery is scheduled is replacing one of her twice-daily eye drops with a new one.  Apparently one of her drops has a high tendency of people building a tolerance to it, but it has less side effects than the new one we've switched to.  (Main side effect of this new one being that it gets into the blood stream through the tear duct and makes patients REALLY sleepy for about 30 minutes ~ a blessing at bedtime, not so much in the mornings...)  But we'll deal with sleepiness and give it a shot until our follow-up visit on September 2.  Pressure that day will determine if we leave after the exam or go to a pre-op appointment.  

To say that we are disappointed would be accurate.  However, while this increase in pressure surprised us, it certainly has not surprised our God.  We know that He has all things, including our baby girl's eyesight in her right eye, under control.  And so we will try what the experts say yet put our trust in His healing...