I've been praying about these eyes - Abby's eyes. Ever since she was a baby, people have noticed her eyes. They're big, and bright blue, with impossibly long eyelashes, and they're expressive and beautiful.
Lately, people have been noticing her eyes for the wrong reason. In late March, her teacher noticed that one eye seemed to be drifting out on occasion. Not all the time, and not severely, but it caught her attention. (By the way, her teacher is a super star!!). I took Abby to an ophthalmologist who diagnosed her with intermittent
exotropia,
strabismus, or occasional drifting, but classified it as a very mild case. He said it was possible that she had always had it but we'd never noticed, because it was so mild. He advised us to watch it and try a little patch therapy to see if that helped.
Less than three weeks later, the drifting had worsened considerably. Her pediatrician noticed it, her friends noticed it, and she even saw it in the mirror. Her vision is so far unaffected, but I was very fearful of what this would mean for her cosmetically. I took her back to get rechecked, and the ophthalmologist recommended eye surgery. My prayers became more fervent.
This morning we took her to another ophthalmologist, one who has come highly recommended from several sources. He was so caring, so calm, so completely reassuring. Yes, she will need surgery. Yes, of course that scares me. But I feel confident we're in the right hands, and headed down the right path. With clarity comes peace. We will probably have it done this summer, and I hope and pray that she won't ever have to think about it again.
