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William got his eyeglasses today. Doesn't he look cute? He's such a sweet and handsome boy! It was so fun to watch him with them. He kept pointing at everything. It was easy to tell he was seeing things from a new perspective!
I spoke with another ophthalmologist last night who is very close to our area. He was extremely helpful. He was very open and honest with me, not giving false hope, but not being hopeless either. I appreciate that. Of course, I was very concerned about blindness. I asked a lot of questions about blindness and what constitutes "legally blind." A person is considered "legally blind" when his/her visual acuity is 20/200 or less in the better eye with best correction. William's visual acuity is about 20/400 without correction, but fortunately he can still receive correction. As long as he is able to be corrected with lenses, he will not be considered legally blind. Dr. Groves also explained that there is nothing that can be done to stop a degenerating retina. We just have to wait to see how quickly it continues to deteriorate. His suggestion is that we prepare William to live with the worst, but hope for the best. At some point we may end up seeing a low vision specialist for braille and other things helpful for people with low vision. Of course, we are hoping that the rate of deterioration is slow and that his vision will always be able to be corrected with lenses, no matter how thick!
We are going to try to really press forward quickly with speech therapy. Our therapist is moving back to the city, over 2 hours away, but we are going to follow her. Now, more than ever, it seems such a great blessing that we did the CI when we did. We had honestly considered waiting until he was older. I am excited to see how this affects his speech therapy. I've noticed times when Krissa asks him for a certain toy and he reaches for something else. I've thought to myself, "He knows what that is." I wonder if being able to see better will change how he performs in therapy. I'll let you know!
I spoke with another ophthalmologist last night who is very close to our area. He was extremely helpful. He was very open and honest with me, not giving false hope, but not being hopeless either. I appreciate that. Of course, I was very concerned about blindness. I asked a lot of questions about blindness and what constitutes "legally blind." A person is considered "legally blind" when his/her visual acuity is 20/200 or less in the better eye with best correction. William's visual acuity is about 20/400 without correction, but fortunately he can still receive correction. As long as he is able to be corrected with lenses, he will not be considered legally blind. Dr. Groves also explained that there is nothing that can be done to stop a degenerating retina. We just have to wait to see how quickly it continues to deteriorate. His suggestion is that we prepare William to live with the worst, but hope for the best. At some point we may end up seeing a low vision specialist for braille and other things helpful for people with low vision. Of course, we are hoping that the rate of deterioration is slow and that his vision will always be able to be corrected with lenses, no matter how thick!
We are going to try to really press forward quickly with speech therapy. Our therapist is moving back to the city, over 2 hours away, but we are going to follow her. Now, more than ever, it seems such a great blessing that we did the CI when we did. We had honestly considered waiting until he was older. I am excited to see how this affects his speech therapy. I've noticed times when Krissa asks him for a certain toy and he reaches for something else. I've thought to myself, "He knows what that is." I wonder if being able to see better will change how he performs in therapy. I'll let you know!
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William, pointing to Mommy's glasses, then pointing to his own"And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness." Isaiah 29:18
