Ophthalmology

Maria's View-



So breakfast for dude went well because I started with the banana and covered each bite of banana with oatmeal. He did very well. So I think I'm on to something. He wants to be able to chew his food or else he feels that there is nothing there... or that he's back to his orphanage foods of just soup and that scares him. So everything we give him, we will make it chunky somehow. Chris noticed that when he gave him a cup of yogurt yesterday, he wasn't very happy, so we will add Cheerios or bread to it to thicken it up and see if that helps!



I noticed today that the second I laid the banana peel down (I had been scooping the banana directly from the peel); he started crying... and then when I tipped the bowl of oatmeal, that instantly set him off. Breakfast is a very sensitive time for him and the act of simply tipping the bowl alerts him into knowing that it's coming to an end. A very smart little boy who pays incredible attention to detail!! Wow.



So I decided to stay home with my girlies while Chris took Griffin to the ophthalmologist. My girls need a little one on one time with me, especially Little G. So I've been giving her extra loving and rocking in the recliner. She pointed to a picture in a book of a ball and said "ba"! PROGRESS! I love my children!



It seems that I have 2 languages going on in my house right now and I can't keep each language straight with the correct kid! I only speak to Griffin in the Russian words that I know he needs to hear but I try not to very often. This morning, he was sitting on the floor and I asked him to come to me in Russian and in English and he crawled right over to me! PROGRESS! Very proud of him.



Today, Chris is going to keep the littles for me so that I can take Big G to tennis and then we are going to hang out with our Copous and Holmes friends...we plan to relax in the back yard and let the kids play on the slippin' slide and then have sloppy joes for dinner. So excited to have some girl time! YEAH! Just so you know, I have one of Chris' favorite foods (white Lima beans) simmering in the crock pot right now so that dinner is covered, along with a hot pan of cornbread that I will make right before I leave. :-)



Love and Hugs!





Chris's View-



I'm baaaaaaack! Miss me?!?!?



This morning was Griffin's Ophthalmology appointment. My goodness, the doctor is A-MAZ-ING! She's Dr. Ing! LOL! She was so good with him! She's not a pediatric ophthalmologist though, so this will be the last time we probably see her.



We got there, and of course I had to explain the whole adoption thing... this is very common at our hospital & clinic. For instance, the lab tech questioned some of the labs that were put in for Griffin, due to them being so rare. Once I explained that we adopted him from an Eastern European country that is not in the Euro Zone, he totally understood why they were checking him for obscure parasites and blood borne pathogens.

Anyway, the ophthalmologist asked what our primary concerns were:



1 - His eyes get really yellow mucousy "gunk" and sometime will get red patchy areas around his eyes. Clogged tear ducts are common in children with Down syndrome, so we think this is what this is, but we wanted to rule out any chronic pink eye or infection.



2 - He has one eye that crosses every so often. It's not crossed permanently, just occasionally, it will cross, so we wanted to see if this was something that is correctable or possibly an indicator that it could get worse, and if it is, we'd like to put him on a course of treatment to prevent it from getting worse if that is possible.



She totally understood and examined Griffin's eyes for a bit. He was really good with her and followed her light well. She put things in different areas and said he has no difficulties seeing objects, and in fact, his peripheral vision is really good. She then wanted to dilate his eyes. Apparently the eye drops used to dilate the eyes can be pretty rough, so she used baby eye dilation drops, which take an hour to work, but are really mild on the system.



During our wait, we walked around to the shopette in the hospital. I got Griffin a bag of Cheez-its and a bottle of Tropicana apple juice, since he had already killed the first sippy cup of juice. We sat down in the food court dining room and I fed him his snack. He ate the entire bag, even the crumbs, and drank an entire sippy cup of juice. Little boy was hungry & thirsty! They said the side effect of the drops was drowsiness, not the munchies!



After the hour was up, we walked back to the ophthalmology clinic. She did an in-depth examination of his eyes, checking his prescription and for cataracts. She also tried to get a better look at his tear ducts. After she was complete, she gave me the news... he's right on track with a normal 3 year old! His eye's prescription is good, but the pediatric ophthalmologist may prescribe him glasses to try to correct the crossing issue. She said that since we do not know for sure how long the crossing has been going on... we think it was from birth... that she is surprised that it is not more severe. If the glasses do not work, they may try to patch his stronger eye to force him to strengthen the muscles that hold the eye centered. As for the tear ducts though, she's going to leave that one to the pediatric ophthalmologist. She said that since we have not had his heart checked yet, we need to wait until after that appointment, since he will need to be placed under anesthesia so he doesn't move and cause damage to the eye. They will probe the tear duct, down into the nasal passage. She said sometimes there is a membrane in there that needs to be perforated, but that sometimes it doesn't. This could clear up his issue all together. She said it could also be that some bone or cartilage is reducing the flow of the tear ducts, thus causing the mucus back-up. She said they may have to scrape this out to allow for better flow. She said if that is the case, they will stint the tear ducts for 6 months to allow them to grow in a more open way.



Whatever it is, she said it's nothing serious and that there is nothing contagious or infectious about the mucus, but to watch others who may have eye issues around him. The infection could be more persistent with him if it gets behind the mucus that flows out into his eye, and it will be harder to combat.



While we were at the hospital I got a call from our insurance company... yes, the military has an HMO called TRICARE... telling us that we would have to pay deductibles and co-pays for Griffin's cardiology appointment off base. Uh... don't think so, as since he is adopted, he's considered a new birth to us, therefore he's automatically covered for 60 days under the full coverage, no deductible, and no co-pay insurance plan while we get him what is referred to as Command Sponsored. They acted like they had no idea what I was talking about. I told them the office at the Ramstein Clinic gave me a paper that said as much when we first started our adoption document gathering. They had me call some other lady in the enrollment department, who said she'd have to research it. About 25 minutes later, I get a call saying that he is fully enrolled in TRICARE Prime now. That's what I thought! LOL! I like winning! :)



See ya'll later!