The Holidays

The Holidays are over

I love that time of the season it is my favorite, but it is also allot of work at the same time. There is one thing I always look forward to doing every year is to drive every one crazy with all my holiday music.

Preston is all year round school so he was off for almost 6 weeks so I had my hands full. My mother in-law Mimi, in town she drove with her dog Riley from Indiana she wanted to make sure she made it in town in time for Preston’s basketball game and she did. That was the first time ever able to see him playing in any sports. I was so happy to see that Preston had a wonderful game! Mimi was so proud to see her grandson and do so well.

My brother in-law Craig and his black lab Scarlet drove down from the mountains a few days after Mimi being in town.
I did not have any of my family unfortunately come over for the dinner it just did not work out this year. I was a little bit sad about it but we still had a great time.

Mimi and I shopped I think everyday! The guys were also busy doing there own thing. Through all this hustle and bustle we had to make sure that Preston was still eye patching.
We would play uno and make him wear his patch while playing because he wanted to play so bad it was easy to get him to patch.
He also patches when he plays play station or watches TV. When he got guitar hero for Christmas he also would patch. We tried to associate eye patching with something fun and positive. Of course he didn’t always want to patch when doing certain things and would make up excuses why he didn’t want to patch at the time.

Preston's Big Day!

PRESTON’S 8TH BIRHTDAY PARTY

I am a little late writing about his birthday. Like I said earlier I am going to be playing catch up. His birthday was Dec 4th.
I want to thank you so much for coming back and reading my blog writings.

Preston had about 12 little boys come to his party. I decided to have it at our home in the basement.
My sister in-law Lynda and my daughter Calla helped me with the party. Thank goodness they were there!
These boy’s have a allot of energy and that’s just fine with me just as long as we keep them all busy and that they had a good time.

We had Bakugan party and tournament, which is very popular now with the young boys. They had crafts to make and they played air hockey. We had of course 2 different types of cakes that they could pick from. They also had hotdogs and chips. The party lasted for 3 hours I think next time we will have it for only 2 hours. Preston opened his presents and took pictures with all his friends. Each child got a goodie bag and then they went home.
Lynda helped me clean up; boy was it nice that she was there to help me. I was for thankful for her and my daughter.
Preston was really good about patching after his party while he played with all his new toys.

Preston's Eye exam

PRESTON’S CHECK UP AT THE EYE DOCTORS OFFICE

Preston was a little nervous to go today since he just turned 8 years old. By the age of eight the Doctor really wanted to see a difference in Preston. Unfortunately he is the same as our last visit. But the previous visit he did get a little bit better. By patching he has showing a difference from the beginning so that is encouraging. The doctor wants to give him to the age of 9 years old. She wanted to get Preston on his weak eye to a 2050 with correction in case anything would ever happen to his good eye that he would be able to drive, but we will not put that out there he will be just fine. Preston does now read a few letters with his glasses on, on the 2050 line, so for right now we will keep on patching and see what happens in the future. This is why I want to get my Patch Land books out in print to help other children.

The good thing is he didn’t get any worse. She did say that she had to give him a less of a prescription for his new lenses. Prestons left eye has been starting to wander out, because lenses are so strong. The doctor changed it last visit and now she feels she needs to lessen it again. I hope that it doesn’t make a huge difference to him. Doctor D. said that it will force him to use both eyes to focus and he will continue to keep patching! The little guy also has to deal with his stigmatism. I tell you though he walked out with a smile.
That’s my boy!
Preston and I have been going to the same place for his new lenses and frames now for about the last 2 years or so. We work with a lady named Tammy she is fabulous!! She’s the manager. I tell you that if it wasn’t for her making it as pleasant experience as possible I would just be a mess, she also explains every detail to us and what would be the best deal for us. I just want her to know that Preston and I thank her so much!
There is also a guy named Brandon and he is the manager for the lab part and he is great!! He always remembers Preston and comes out and talks to him. It is nice to know that there are people that are still out there that sincerely care about costumer service!

Happy New Year!!! 2009

Playing Catch up with my Blog Writings.

I just wanted to say that I feel like I am repeating what I had said earlier. I have not written in a couple of weeks and I have so much to a say.
I have had my husband’s family in town for a couple of weeks for the holidays.
I am now starting to get to a point that I feel I will be able to set down and write about what has been happening and believe me there has been a lot going on.

I will write in the next couple of days and try to catch up as much as possible.
I do want to mention that Preston has an eye appointment on Monday the 5th, and I will be able to share with you what his doctor has to say. I am keeping my fingers crossed for some good news.

Let's all hope for a wonderful 2009!!!

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