A Note from Dr. Liz T.

Hi Carmen,

I admire what you are doing very much. We need more moms like you to help spread the word about early vision exams to prevent amblyopia. I have recently been doing vision screenings at my childrens' school and have found a few kids with probable amblyopia. They, like many other children have never had an eye exam. The American Optometric Association recommends the first eye exam from 6 mo to 1 year, then three years of age and then again right before entering school. After that, eye exams should occur every one to two years. While many pediatricians are doing a great job encouraging children to get an eye exam at an early age, there are so many who do not.

It is great that Preston's eye is getting better. If he is seeing 20/80 now, he is not considered legally blind. That is wonderful. Legal blindness is 20/200 with best correction. What does his doctor think his potential acuity could be?

You are an awesome mom and Preston is lucky to have you. I look forward to seeing your books and helping you promote them if you need help.

Liz (Dr. T.)

Beau goes to the eye specailist

Today was the day I was going to find out what was wrong with our boy Beau. We were in the waiting area and Beau was getting to see other dogs that were there for some really serious reasons and it just broke my heart when I saw a mother and daughter coming out crying.

Dogs really become part of the family and to have to put them down or know that they have some serious illness is heart breaking.

People in the waiting room were giving Beau compliments even with a bummed eye, and believe me he was loving it.

Here comes the eye specialist, he ask if this is Beau and I said yes really nervous. He introduced himself and said Beau is a good looking boy. We followed him into the exam room and asked me a few questions and put drops in his eyes and waited to see if his 3rd eye lid would go down with the drops and it did.
He said just what I thought. I asked him what and he said Beau has Horner’s Syndrome, I never have heard of it. The Doctor explained to me that Horner’s syndrome is a loss of sympathetic never supply to the eye, eyelids and muscles that dilate the pupil. The sympathetic nerves are part of the nervous system that control “automatic” body functions.
I said ok will what caused it and what can we do about it? He said that the signs associated with Horner’s syndrome are usually unilateral (one sided). They include, drooping of the upper eyelid, constriction of the pupil sinking of the eye, and elevation of the 3rd eyelid. That is exactly what Beau’s eye looks like.

He said that in most cases, the cause of Horner’s Syndrome is idiopathic, or unknown. However anything can create a disruption in the nervous pathway can cause Horner’s syndrome i.e. trauma/injury, infection and tumors. We are thinking maybe injury, he could have hit his face or playing with our other little dog Dunhill.
For most dogs, the signs associated with idiopathic Horner’s Syndrome will resolve within 6 months. They say it isn’t painful.
In some cases Horner’s Syndrome will interfere with vision because the eye is covered by the third eyelid.

We are going to wait and not do any MRI”S at the moment and hope that it will go away so we will just have to play the waiting game. I have faith he will be just fine!!
It is a little bit ironic that Beau his patching buddy is having issues with his left eye, just like in our books.
He will also get better!

Beau goes to the Vet

My Personal Journey as Preston’s Mother

Part Three

I have been so busy the last few weeks that I have neglected my blog writings.
I want to start off by telling you a little story about my dog Beau; he is a 5 year old Weimaraner. Beau is Preston’s eye patch buddy in my children’s books.

I was eating a little bit of lunch before I went to help Preston’s class with the Thursday folders.
I looked over to Beau and noticed that his left eye looked a little weird, I thought will maybe he’s just tired.
I went to Preston’s class and worked on the Thursday folders, when I was done with them I went to run some errands.
I picked up Preston after school at 2:45 pm.
When we got home I ran over to Beau to take a look at his eye to see if it was any different. It definitely was, for the worse! So I called my Vet’s office and she was not in but said I could come in and see a different vet, of course I said yes.
Beau’s eye was red and droopy.

The stand in Vet said she wasn’t sure what was wrong said it could be conjunctivitis which means pink eye. She told us to put a cone on his head and prescribed antibiotics and an eye cream.
Beau’s eye did not get any better so I took him back to the vet’s on Monday andBeau got to see his regular vet.
She said that it looks like he could have nerve damage, or could be caused by a tumor. That is why his left eye is dropping and 3rd eyelid is covering half his eye and told us we should take him in to see an eye specialist and to take him off the antibiotics.

When we got home I was really worried and called and made an appointment for the next day. Preston asked me if Beau was going to wear an eye patch like him.
It happens to be the same eye as Preston’s weak eye, the left one. I told Preston we will see when we take him in the morning.

Beau goes to the eye specialist