Thursday, February 17, 2011
Call me 4-Eyes
Today I got my new lenses that the Neuro Opthamologist prescribed me and it took a little getting used to, but I think things are looking better. He is really trying to work on my double vision so we will see how these new glasses are going to work out. I am suppost to go back and see him in 3 more months to be measured again and talk about how things are going. I am suppost to wear them at all times so I can really get used to them and see how they can help me out. I am so excited to go and check out my good looking boys now that I can see one of everything.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Oklahoma City was a blessing!
Today we returned home from our trip to Oklahoma City to meet with a Neuro Opthamologist who I have been trying to get into for 4 months. Nic and I headed down to Oklahoma yesterday afternoon to make sure that we had enough time to get there with the snow coming in. I called the office early in the morning to see if they were going to close at all due to the weather and I needed to know since we would be driving around 200 miles for this appointment. They told me it would be pretty slim on them closing since they did last week and they were so behind with patients.
We were about 25 minutes away from getting there and I get a call saying that they are going to have to cancel my appointment due to the weather and reschedule it for Friday. I talked with them and let them know we were almost in town and that I really needed to get in today if possible. They talked with Dr. Farris and he was going to be gone since he was called into an emergency eye surgery. I checked to see if there was any way that I could wait and see him after the surgery since we had driven all this way and taken off work. They said to get there as soon as we could and they would get started and then I would have to wait an hour and a half until he would be out of surgery.
We made it to the Dean McGee Eye Institute and headed in to Dr. Farris' office. They started a few tests on me and said that I did really well. They tested my visual field and my eye pressure and things looked good. Nic and I waited about an hour and a half and Dr. Farris walked in. He had a large stack of papers that Dr. Park had sent him on me including the newspaper article from the Derby paper. He sat down and said I have read over your things but I would like to hear it from you. I proceeded to tell him the shortened version of the story as he made some notes. He did a bunch of testing on me and then had me walk across the hall to his office where he wanted me to focus on a building while looking out the window. He had me try on some lens and messed around with the prisms in them. I finally got to see one building for the first time. It was awesome! We walked back over to the exam room and he continued with a few more tests. He decided to dilate my eyes so he put some drops in and said he would like to take a look at my brain scans while my eyes started to dilate. He returned and sat down in front of me and said all I have to say is that it is a miracle that you are functioning the way you are. He was amazed at the amount of blood in my brain from the bleed. He said that 9.5 out of 10 people would be completely blind on the right hand side of both eyes from a brain bleed like this. He didn't understand why I could see as well as I am currently and that it was a blessing how close the bleed was in my brain to the area that controls my speech. He could see where the bleed was on the back left side of head and how it reached around to the front left. He also saw where it barely started around on the back right side and that is where it just slightly touched the area that controls my right leg and since it wasn't a whole lot it didn't mess with my right arm. The great feeling to all of this is that I finally feel like someone understands what is going on with me. I felt like he just jumped into my body and felt what I feel every day. He explained to us that he believes that I was born with a blood vessel abnormality and all of this resulted from the large amount of blood that your body makes while you are pregnant. He looked at me in the eyes and said it is a blessing that this didn't happen before having Parker. He also explained how we are not born with both eyes perfectly aligned and so therefore our brains have a auto pilot that fixes the minor flaws so we don't see double. In the case of any head trauma, bleed, or stroke the auto pilot won't work and so therefore the double vision can get really bad as in my case. He commented that there is no exercise that can fix this and that some special lenses and even surgery can align things. He wanted to wait on surgery at this point and try the lenses and see how we do with those. He wants to see me in 3 months to measure some things and check up on how well the lenses are working.
The best part of all...
After he explained everything to us he asked me if it would be ok if he prayed with me. That was the best thing that he said to me. I was honored and he grabbed my hand and held it between his and began by saying...Lord, I want to thank you for bringing Sarah to me. I want to thank you for the miracle of her being here and being able to squeeze my hand right now. I want to pray for those boys of hers and for their health. I pray for her eyes and that you may heal them and help her to see. I pray that you may guide me as a doctor to help her. I pray for safety and we take this time to lift you up. In Jesus name we pray Amen
Tears were running down my face and as he handed me some tissues I asked if I could hug him. We hugged and I couldn't say thank you enough. He walked us out to the front office and as we headed to the elevators I looked at Nic and said wasn't that amazing? God's timing is sure perfect. Sometimes I think we think that we know and yet it is times like these that we don't know a thing and have to just sit back and take in God's perfection.
We were about 25 minutes away from getting there and I get a call saying that they are going to have to cancel my appointment due to the weather and reschedule it for Friday. I talked with them and let them know we were almost in town and that I really needed to get in today if possible. They talked with Dr. Farris and he was going to be gone since he was called into an emergency eye surgery. I checked to see if there was any way that I could wait and see him after the surgery since we had driven all this way and taken off work. They said to get there as soon as we could and they would get started and then I would have to wait an hour and a half until he would be out of surgery.
We made it to the Dean McGee Eye Institute and headed in to Dr. Farris' office. They started a few tests on me and said that I did really well. They tested my visual field and my eye pressure and things looked good. Nic and I waited about an hour and a half and Dr. Farris walked in. He had a large stack of papers that Dr. Park had sent him on me including the newspaper article from the Derby paper. He sat down and said I have read over your things but I would like to hear it from you. I proceeded to tell him the shortened version of the story as he made some notes. He did a bunch of testing on me and then had me walk across the hall to his office where he wanted me to focus on a building while looking out the window. He had me try on some lens and messed around with the prisms in them. I finally got to see one building for the first time. It was awesome! We walked back over to the exam room and he continued with a few more tests. He decided to dilate my eyes so he put some drops in and said he would like to take a look at my brain scans while my eyes started to dilate. He returned and sat down in front of me and said all I have to say is that it is a miracle that you are functioning the way you are. He was amazed at the amount of blood in my brain from the bleed. He said that 9.5 out of 10 people would be completely blind on the right hand side of both eyes from a brain bleed like this. He didn't understand why I could see as well as I am currently and that it was a blessing how close the bleed was in my brain to the area that controls my speech. He could see where the bleed was on the back left side of head and how it reached around to the front left. He also saw where it barely started around on the back right side and that is where it just slightly touched the area that controls my right leg and since it wasn't a whole lot it didn't mess with my right arm. The great feeling to all of this is that I finally feel like someone understands what is going on with me. I felt like he just jumped into my body and felt what I feel every day. He explained to us that he believes that I was born with a blood vessel abnormality and all of this resulted from the large amount of blood that your body makes while you are pregnant. He looked at me in the eyes and said it is a blessing that this didn't happen before having Parker. He also explained how we are not born with both eyes perfectly aligned and so therefore our brains have a auto pilot that fixes the minor flaws so we don't see double. In the case of any head trauma, bleed, or stroke the auto pilot won't work and so therefore the double vision can get really bad as in my case. He commented that there is no exercise that can fix this and that some special lenses and even surgery can align things. He wanted to wait on surgery at this point and try the lenses and see how we do with those. He wants to see me in 3 months to measure some things and check up on how well the lenses are working.
The best part of all...
After he explained everything to us he asked me if it would be ok if he prayed with me. That was the best thing that he said to me. I was honored and he grabbed my hand and held it between his and began by saying...Lord, I want to thank you for bringing Sarah to me. I want to thank you for the miracle of her being here and being able to squeeze my hand right now. I want to pray for those boys of hers and for their health. I pray for her eyes and that you may heal them and help her to see. I pray that you may guide me as a doctor to help her. I pray for safety and we take this time to lift you up. In Jesus name we pray Amen
Tears were running down my face and as he handed me some tissues I asked if I could hug him. We hugged and I couldn't say thank you enough. He walked us out to the front office and as we headed to the elevators I looked at Nic and said wasn't that amazing? God's timing is sure perfect. Sometimes I think we think that we know and yet it is times like these that we don't know a thing and have to just sit back and take in God's perfection.
Monday, February 7, 2011
It's getting closer
My appointment in Oklahoma is getting closer and I really have high expectations for this doctor as everyone keeps telling me to go for it and head down there to see him. There are only 2 Neuro Opthamologists around here and 1 is in Kansas City and the other in Oklahoma. I am trying to get everything ready for the trip and so I have called St. Francis hospital to get all of my brain scans on a CD to take with me. I have collected all paperwork and images and I believe we are ready to go. My mom is coming over to spend the night and take care of the boys while we are gone. Nic took a day and a half off work so we could head down the night before since my appointment is at 9:30 in the morning. We also got Oklahoma Thunder basketball tickets for the night before so we are pretty excited about the trip.
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