Yesterday, Harper had a very important eye appointment. We’ve been waiting seven months for this.
First, I’ll back up. She has worn glasses since the age of one. She saw a pediatric ophthalmologist and has had regular eye care from an optometrist ever since then. Everything was great other than she needed corrective lenses to see. Fast forward to 2020, and her eye doctor mentions that he’s noticing one of her eyes pulling in a bit. Nothing to be concerned about, just to watch. Last year, he says we need to start patching because her eyes have gotten worse. He increased her prescription so much that he wanted to see her again in a month to make sure she has adjusted. This has happened for the last several years. At her follow up, I get told that he is going to refer us out to a specialist because her vision is so bad even with glasses. He said “I’m afraid there’s just nothing more I can do from her here.” He said that most believe the eye can be manipulated until the age of 8, but some believe there is more time. She had just turned 7 when he gave us this news, so i felt like time was running out.
I got in my car and cried… sobbed is more like it. It felt like a gut punch. Her eyes were getting so much worse year after year even though I was told back when she was one that her vision should improve greatly since we caught it so early. I start researching amblyopia and strabismus to see what sort of options the pediatric ophthalmologist may suggest. As I’m reading, everything is saying that if it is not caught early enough, it may cause blindness in that eye. With her eyes having been so weak even through her glasses, I was terrified of this worst case scenario. I looked at books and web sources and they all said the same thing. I was sick to my stomach over it.
Harper sees a homeopathic chiropractor regularly, and I told her to do whatever she could think of to help her eyes. We did a lot of muscle testing and put her on supplements to help what was lacking. She’s been on a lot of brain support supplements and had a lot of adjustments. It’s been awesome. We had also been regularly patching her eyes, because both eyes needed help– one more than the other. During patching, we were working on a lot of fine motor activities to really force the eyes to work hard. Harper is a trooper. Only recently has she grown tired of the patches, because it amounted to 8 (6 on one eye, and two on the other) of her waking hours.
Anyway, we went yesterday for a two hour appointment. They checked everything, and we get the greatest news. The stronger eye is where it needs to be and no longer requires patching. Praise God! The other eye is still not where it needs to be, but instead of patching for six hours, we can go down to “at least” two. Her eyes have improved SO much. Her prescription was increased again, but that is to be expected. He explained that just as our foot size gets bigger as we grow, prescriptions get bigger. He said not to think of it as a negative, just as growth.
When he was done, I asked him the burning question. Could she end up blind in that eye. He said “Well, a meteor could fall from the sky into her eye, and yes, she would be blind. But, from this. No. Not at all.” Y’all! It was like a ten million pound weight was lifted.
I cannot believe how much improvement has been shown in her eyes. When we get her new prescription, she will actually be able to SEE through it!! Things were still blurry when she got her new prescription last year. I can’t imagine living that way. She is thrilled to get less patching time. I am thrilled that she will be able to see!!
God is SO good. I know so many were lifting her in your prayers, and I am so grateful.
