Today we saw a pediatric ophthalmologist to see what's up with Judith's eyes. Our exam was a bit more comprehensive than the previous one this summer, and I definitely had much better vibes from the staff and doctor at this office!
Basically what we're monitoring her for is something called strabismus. In a nutshell, strabismus is a condition where the eyes are misaligned, and they can drift inward, outward, upward, or downward. This is potentially what I have been seeing over the last few months, and what the OT wanted us to have checked. If this is the case, it could be contributing to Judith's fine motor delays (per the OT).
Judith had her eyes dilated again, and I do feel bad for her; I hate having my eyes dilated, and I know it sucks, but in some ways I'm glad we had an evening appointment because she can hang out in the dark tonight (and sleep of course!). We know a little more about her farsightedness. My hunch is more than likely correct: the doctor said that many preemies who have vision problems (especially due to ROP) are nearsighted, so Judith's farsightedness is more than likely genetic, coming from my mom's side of the family. If she follows our genetic tendencies, she'll probably have an astigmatism (like my mom and I do) and be nearsighted once she gets older.
Anyway. She's not showing any signs of regression or lingering problems from the ROP. The little stinker also decided not to let her eyes shift like they were just a few hours before her appointment - they were straight throughout the exam, so the doctor gave me a brochure with some pictures explaining what strabismus and pseudostrabismus look like. I will have to look at some of her pictures again and see if I can figure out what's up; I'll also have to remember to load some of her recent pictures to my iPod so I can show them to the doctor at our next visit.
As it stands right now, Judith's kind of at an in-between point: she will definitely need glasses in the near future, but right now she can get away without them. We have another appointment in 6 weeks, and it's possible we could be talking about getting her some glasses to help her out. Really, it's not a big deal; however, I'm trying to figure out how the heck we're going to keep glasses on her at this age.
I have a general blog announcement. As you may have noticed, there is a new badge/banner at the very top of my side column. We are now listed on the site Top Mommy Blogs under the Special Needs section! It would be awesome if you would vote for us - simply click on the badge, and it will take you to the Top Mommy Blogs home page. All you need to do is click, and the banner will track your vote. Pretty simple, right? I would love to see our blog near the top of the list so we can help raise awareness for prematurity and cystic fibrosis, and to accomplish that we need you to vote! Thank you so much!
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