Visit to Jules Stein Eye Institute

  Yesterday was our first appointment at UCLA with Dr. Joseph Demer. It was an exhausting 4 hours in his office, however, for the majority of the appointment Connor did very well, with just a few tantrums and cries, as well as laughs. They put a picture up the computer screen and were asking Connor what the picture was of. He named almost all of them (impressing the doc because he is not even two yet), but our favorite was the picture of a hand and Connor yells out "hi - five". We did really good when the screen was close to him, but as soon as it was far away he had a hard time seeing them (which led to tears in my eyes).
  After all the testing, Dr. Demer took his time to tell us what he knows about Connor's eyes. Connor's eyes are very straight, confirming his Strabisimus surgery was successful. It was also confirmed that Connor's eye sight has gotten much worse. He was given a new prescription of -17.5 in his right eye and -19 in his left eye. This concerns us a bit, as this change is not normal. There are many reasons why his eye could be developing this way. Currently we have been left in the dark, as Dr. Demer does not want was to worry over possibilities and his statement to us was, "I would rather say nothing, than guess." He wants to make a diagnosis and then educate us. He mentioned it could be due to a disease in his lens, the actual shape of his eye, or the eye developing too quickly. In order to find out what could be going on, Connor will have to go under Anesthesia at the end of April to look at his complete eye anatomy. Another doctor will also attend who works with children in contacts. Dr. Demer thinks it would be a smart move to switch Connor into contacts because of his strong prescription. We will keep you posted on the date of his Anesthesia, as we should know by the middle of next week.
   Last Sunday, our friends suprised us with a fund for Connor's eyes. It was an amazing evening full or emotion, love and support. Mike and I were speechless and in much shock to see that there are so many people who love our little boy as much as we do. I look forward to the day that Connor is old enough to understand, that through the help of so many we will be able to find out a proper diagnosis of what his has, and hopefully we will have prevented his eyes from getting any worse. Here is a link to the blog, if you have yet to see it Connor's Vision Blog
  Thank you family and friends for all your love and support. It has been so helpful during this time.