The Daily Hailey

I was dreading today, if I’m being completely honest. Both Dekker and Laela had eye appointments that were a bit ominous to me. The kids appointment was originally booked for February 25th, but I had Rowan on the 23rd, was released from the hospital on the 24th, and the appointment was supposed to be at 9:00am the next day. So I called the office to see what they would say, and they made room for us this next week instead.

For todays appointments, both kids eyes were going to need to be dilated, meaning they would both have to have eye drops put in, then a 20-30 minute wait while the drops did their thing, and then more tests. I don’t really think anyone enjoys eye drops, but these sting a bit, and blur the kids vision, so its a very unpopular thing. Anyway, enough said on that. I was not looking forward to the appointment.

We dropped Rowan off to spend the afternoon with my mom, before heading into the city to the hospital. Lucky for us, Dekker LOVES Dr. Rubab, and was really excited to go in and play the matching game with her. The elevator ride is usually a big hit too. Dekker likes lots of things about eye appointments, actually. He does way better now than he did in the beginning, thats for sure. He’s finally getting used to it.

The ladies at the desk were really nice and polite to our kids, and sent us off to the same waiting room as always. It wasn’t long before we were called into orthoptics for the initial testing. Dekker was a bit put off in the beginning, as he often is, but the orthoptist played into his interests and got him on her side very quickly. He cooperated quite well, and was pretty intrigued when it was Laela’s turn next. She also did well, and cooperated nicely. She was pretty stoic the whole time, but rather serious and quiet than throwing a fit the entire time. I was so pleased to see her pass tests that I remember Dekker struggling with. I don’t mean that to sound mean at all! I’m sad that Dekker has had this burden on him, and I wish he didn’t struggle, but I was so happy to see with my mommy eyes that my daughters vision was really quite good!

When it came time for drops, the orthoptist asked what the plan was – whether we wanted to warn the kids or sneak attack the drops on them. We opted to catch them by surprise, since we know our kids, and either way would bring the same result with the same volume. So she just jumped in and told Dekker she was going to take off his glasses, did just that, and Brady leaned him back for the dirty work. It was loud and sad, but he recovered faster than we expected. I held Laela for hers, and she was also pretty unimpressed, to say the least, but she recovered within ten seconds. We brought both kids back out into the waiting area, red faced and teary eyed, but more than fine.

That wait in between appointments is always a bit of a challenge. Dekker can put his glasses on and his vision isn’t as blurry, but he’s usually still pretty put off by everything so he’s grumpy. The only time Laela has ever had drops was back in June, so she was only ten months at the time. This time, she wanted to run around, but was incredibly clumsy and took a couple spills. Nothing too big though. More close calls than anything. But they both made it, and were called into Dr. Rubab’s office in pretty decent time.

Dekker once again was a bit angsty in the beginning, and wouldn’t look at Dr. Rubab. She told him the first test was looking at a big truck, and she asked if he would prefer a green truck or a red truck. He ignored her at first, but she waited patiently and quietly, and eventually, Dekker said under his breath “Red.” In that moment, I knew she was in. He did great in the rest of his tests, and she seemed happy. Laela’s tests consisted of staring into a light through a few different lenses, which she did until she got bored of it and started to fight the power a bit. Sadly, this chunk of her day also ended with her being held down and her eyes being pried open in order to show the doctor what she needed to see. But in this case as well, Dr. Rubab seemed happy.

The results are in!! Dekker has no eye turn whatsoever! Not even a flicker, which is wonderful! February 11th was one year since his surgery, and there has been nothing but improvement. She said his prescription is slightly different, but she said its so slight that it could just be a difference in his cooperation or interest from one appointment to the next. Its slight enough that I didn’t even ask if it was a tad higher or lower. Beats me! She was very confident that his prescription can stay the same for now. No news is good news, right? As for Laela, Dr. Rubab says that her eyes are healthy and are developing just as they should be! At Laela’s previous appointment, her astigmatism was a bit higher than normal, and we were told that if it didn’t improve enough by her next appointment (today) that she would be given a prescription and would need glasses. In those months, her eyes changed exactly the amount they needed to! Thank you, Lord, for giving us this one!!! I couldn’t be more thrilled or relieved to know that, for the moment, we are all good here. Everyone is healthy and maintaining and obviously, super wonderful in every other way.