Mason's Eye Update

A couple months ago we had another eye appointment on July 23rd. This time we were seeing the pediatric eye specialist, Dr. Underdauhl. This is the same doctor that came to the Cardon's children hospital the night of Mason's accident. He pried Mason's eye open and examined it in the hospital. We haven't seen too much of him since the hospital because of all the retinal and anterior eye issues and surgeries. At this point I felt like things were calming down and we were on track for Mason's eye being "back to normal". Even though he couldn't see out of it very well I wasn't concerned because in all his surgeries and appointments every doctor had been very hopeful and optimistic. At this particular appointment I figured we would walk in, the doctor would examine Mason's eye, maybe recommend some reading glasses, pat us on the back, and send us on our merry way. Putting this whole nightmare behind us. WRONG.
I was so glad Ron was there with me at this appointment. Dr. Underdauhl looked and looked into Mason's eyes, did a few tests and then the bad news came. It's still a bit of a blur but he basically told us that Mason had severe and irreversible optic nerve damage to his optic nerve. He explained that the way Mason's eye responded to light and what he could see in his eye was not good. Nerve damage to the eye rarely regenerates. Translation: Mason would NEVER see out of his left eye.
I was in shock. No one had mentioned this to me before. Not one of his surgeons had prepped me for this. I didn't believe it. I felt like we were back at square one. So discouraged.
Dr. Underdauhl then went on to recommend prescription eye glasses for Mason that would mostly serve as protection for his good eye and not be terribly beneficial for the damaged eye. He also casually recommended we do "eye patch therapy" for 2 hours a day. Placing an eye patch over Mason's good eye might help stimulate nerve activity and could possibly improve eye sight in his bad eye. (Not very encouraging words) I left this appointment bewildered and sad. I tried not to show Mason and quickly put my sunglasses on. In the car I turned around to back out of the parking space and Mason asked "Mom, why are you crying?" I didn't know what to say so I think I responded "I got something in my eye". All those yucky feelings of regret and guilt were creeping back in. I still feel responsible for his accident and that's not a good feeling.
The next couple months were really hard. I quickly HATED eye-patch therapy as much (or more) than Mason. He has handled everything post trauma extremely well. No complaining at appointments or with eye drops, no whining or crying, handled surgeries very well before and after. I was very surprised at how much he fought me with putting the eye patch on. Luckily, I'm pretty stubborn and if the Doctor says it MIGHT help we are going to do eye patch therapy. Everyday he dreads it, I feel like he turns into another kid (not my happy peppy Mason). We came up with a few strategies and incentives to help the time go by. He's allowed to play on the IPad for 1 of the 2 hours everyday. (This was particularly hard for me. I HATE video games but if it helps him not kick the wall and be mad at the world I'm OK with it.) I try really hard to plan eye patch time around activities outside the home. I don't want him to have to wear it in public and be self-conscious about it. This is really difficult lately when he gets home from school at 3:15 and then has football practice at 5:30 pm. But we manage. Honestly there is probably 1-2 days a week where it just doesn't happen. I'm even seriously considering purchasing a large punching bag to help him punch out his frustrations on during therapy. I talked to several friends whose kids need to patch as well and got some really helpful advice. Some kids have to wear an eye patch for 4 hours a day!!! I'm so grateful ours is only 2 hours. I'm learning a lot about myself through all of this. I keep praying for patience and well... this is definitely trying my patience! Practice makes perfect right? I need more practice because I am certainly not perfect. There were days I seriously thought of giving up. The doctor said he really wouldn't regain eye sight so WHY was I putting myself and Mason through all this?!?!?!
Now fast forward to our 2 month check up. September 24th I was extremely nervous in the waiting area. The technician called us back to do the preliminary testing and evaluation. She set the eye equipment to the recommended prescription for Mason to look through and test his sight. She blocked off the right eye and began the exam. Last appointment Mason couldn't even see the HUGE "E" at the top of the eye chart. The technician was showing letters much smaller and Mason was calling them off correctly. I WAS shocked and kept asking Mason "Are you cheating?" or "Don't move Mason just use your left eye." I couldn't believe it. The technician informed me not to worry she was watching Mason and he had his right eye closed. The letters he was reading were about 1.5 inches tall. Anything smaller than that was not readable. I was so thrilled my hopes were soaring. When Dr. Underdauhl came in he asked us to move rooms. He claimed to like the equipment better in this particular room. He then proceeded to tape off Mason's right eye and perform the exact same test that the technician had JUST performed. I chuckled to myself as I thought "He doesn't believe it either and wants to witness it first hand" Again, Mason read off letters about 1.5 inches tall and I could tell Dr. Underdauhl was impressed. He told us he had never seen this before and that we just made his day. I felt a rush of happy tears spring to my eyes. Dr. Underdauhl was very hopeful and impressed. He said to keep doing what we were doing because it was working. I asked him to turn to Mason and repeat that. Dr. Underdauhl smiled and stressed the importance of eye patch therapy to Mason. I left the office feeling much happier and at peace. We still have to do eye patch everyday, I STILL don't really enjoy making my child go through that but it obviously is working so we will continue.

We ordered his glasses this week. That was quite the ordeal too! I had no idea how many options and upgrades there is involved with ordering glasses. I've been blessed with good eyes and have never had to have any prescription eye glasses. It was like a whole new language to me. After 2 hours at the optical center we finally picked out his glasses only to find that I needed to pick different set of frames because bifocal lens only fit larger frames. I have mixed feelings about Mason in glasses. But he is a cute kid no matter what and I think he likes them. I might just start calling him "CLARK" for Clark Kent.