Sorry it has been so long but I wanted to give you an update as I have numerous people asking how things are going. Well it has been a hot summer but not too hot to enjoy great times together with family and friends. Since our last visit to Oklahoma I started wearing the new lenses that Dr. Farris prescribed and they were absolutely wonderful for distance but still double vision up to about 6 or 7 feet. After about a month in a half or so of wearing them I started noticing that the double vision started becoming more and more and the distance was increasing from 6-7 feet to about 15 feet. I made a phone call down Dr. Farris, the Neuro-Opthamologist in Oklahoma City at the Dean McGee Eye Institute, and they said that they wanted to see me again. We returned down there on Monday, August 1 and he checked out a few things and noticed how dry my eyes were so he said that he wanted me to use some drops in each eye at least 4 times a day and that the focus issues I am having are due to this. The left eye takes about 2 seconds to focus in on something and the right eye is slow but faster than the left. He said we are dealing with 3 different issues here, 1. double vision near & far, as well as, horizontal & vertical which is convergence insufficiency 2. dry eyes which are not helping with the clarity 3. the blind area in the upper right quadrant in both eyes due to brain damage. When you put all three of those separate issues together well....you just plain have a big mess and it is extremely difficult to fix he told us. He really wanted to do surgery to try and see where we could get if he works on 2 different muscles in my left eye which is the worst one of the two and see if he can weaken the muscles so that he can try and get it lined up with the right one. The recovery is 6-8 weeks and then we will return there to have him see where we stand and if we need to schedule another surgery on the same eye to adjust things or if he needs to work on the right eye.
God is Faithful! This has been my theme through all of this and once again He shines so bright through everything. We were sitting in the office waiting for them to come in and talk to us about the details of all of this and Nic and I were discussing time wise when we should do this and with insurance and I just finished mentioning to him that once again we are going to have to work on my patience because that is something that I have really had to work hard at this past year and a half. Trusting God is not a struggle of mine, but being patient for things is. We were thinking maybe go ahead and look at doing it in February and that would work best for Nic getting off and things slowing down etc. They came in and took us to another floor for scheduling and we sat down and she says well there has been a cancellation and we have this Thursday open at 7:00am. Nic starts laughing and looks at me and says...you asked God and He gave it to you. Never ask for something you don't really want. Anyway we have gone ahead and are planning on leaving this afternoon to head to Oklahoma be ready to go at 6:00am in the morning for surgery.
I have been up since 5:30am and yes I am nervous, but I ask God to calm my anxiousness as I am ready to SEE the world in a whole new way. I decided to check my email since I was up so early and I wanted to share what a good friend of mine had sent me and it was just what I needed to hear...Psalm 34:8 - Taste and SEE that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
I also wanted to mention that Nic had paid a bunch of bills right before we headed down to Oklahoma and then they decide to do surgery 3 days later? AHHHH!!! I also needed to call the hospital and make a payment for Parker's birth and then call the surgery center to make another payment for Parker's ear surgery he had. I paid the surgery center over the phone and called the hospital to make a payment as well and the lady said honey you have a zero balance and I said but I still have two more payments to make are you sure? She said yes and enjoy your day. Wow that is awesome how the big guy works. Later on in the day the lady from the Dean McGee Eye Surgery Center calls and wants to know how much we can pay on Thursday for the surgery and I thought oh no here we go again. I talked with Nic and called her back and she tells me we can make payments of $100 and there is nothing else we need to pay ahead of time. Wow once again. God is truly amazing and He always works it out. Thank you for your prayers and support during this time and I hope to SEE you all soon.
God Bless
