Wednesday, January 7, 2009

To Fenestrate or not to Fenestrate...that is the question.

We had Derrick's eye check-up yesterday. We were both pretty nervous about what they would find. The hope was the swelling on his optic nerve had decreased enough to avoid the surgery. It's called Optic Nerve Fenestration and I won't go into the details of how they get to that optic nerve...ok, i will....it involves some cutting around the eye, turning the eye ball sideways....and then cutting little slits into the covering over the optic nerve....and so forth. Many people want to avoid surgeries but for some reason this one just sounds pretty horrible. Needless to say, the Lord has heard our prayers and as of yesterday the Mayo doctor does not want to see us yet. The swelling has gone down slightly. However, there was another glitch. Derrick's left pupil was not responding very well to light....which was alarming to the eye doc. And, his visual field scan showed some improvement on the right eye, but some new spots of vision loss on the left. So, she was very concerned about these two things and told us we would probably have to go to Mayo very soon. She then left the room to talk about this info with the Mayo doc on the phone. To our surprise, when she returned, our Mayo specialist did not want to see us yet. He thinks that the improvement in the nerve is really good and that the pupil not responding to light isn't quite a big deal yet. So, he wants Derrick to be followed very closely here, in town, and will continue to monitor the situation from there. So......it's good news for now.

And....this post wasn't supposed to be about me, but these days, everything becomes about me and my nauseous self. So....I finally made a whole meal tonight before Derrick got home from work. Without passing out. Or nearly vomiting. As an extra bonus, it was a new recipe. And it was kind of good! And.....at a work meeting today, one of my friends told me about a little morning sickness remedy. Old, warm, flat Coke. It is supposed to do the trick. I tried some tonight...and....it...might.....just...work...a...little. I consider that a victory! Thank you, Anna.

In closing, Derrick and I realize that we both have "freak of nature" eye problems (Iritis for me and Psudotumor Cerbrai for him) and I'm no "Joy" to be around these days, but we have done one thing really, really right. And that's him.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought Leighton looked like he was giving us a kiss and Darrel said he is saying baka. Hope you guys have a good rest of the week. See you wednesday! Love, L&D, M&D,B&B

Michelle H. said...

I'm thankful you are free from another trip to Mayo for now...I pray that everything continues improving! One more thing...that is seriously an adorable pic of Leighton!!

Shannonheick said...

G&G- he does run around saying "baka" alot so i'm sure he is missing you!
michelle- thanks for your prayers, we appreciate them so much!