In Office Sedation

I brought Emily to see Dr. Zaidman to be sedated in the so he could test her eye pressure. It took her about 45 minutes to finally fall asleep, but once she was out...she was out. I did about 20 laps around the hospital with her in the stroller trying to get her to sleep, the doctors and people sitting in the waiting rooms must have thought I was either very lost or completely crazy. After she was asleep he took her pressure readings and unfortunately the pressure is elevated again. It also appears as though there is a little bit of swelling in the right cornea now too. I asked him if he thought her left eye was rejecting and surprisingly he said no. Increased pressure can often cause swelling and the cloudiness that we see, so if we can get the pressure under control her eyes should clear up. So it's like a double edged sword, good that he doesn't think it's rejecting, but not good since she's got the high ocular pressure. We are currently trying to find a Glaucoma specialist who works with young children. Both Dr. Zaidman and Dr. Morgan are looking for names of people in Manhattan, but we would much rather find someone more local if we can. My mom got the name of a doctor in Hackensack from one of her eye specialists. We would meet with him as a consultation and then he would do an exam under anesthesia at the hospital to test her pressure. Hopefully we can avoid that for a little while since her pressure was just checked yesterday. They don't do in office sedation so she would have to go under anesthesia again and I just can't bear to put her through that again right now. (and I'm still recovering from the first 7 times). I wanted to find out if her test results could be faxed to the other doctor and hopefully that would be enough for right now. But for the moment Dr. Zaidman had decreased the steroid drops in both eyes to 5 times a day and prescribed another eye drop for the pressure and an oral medication called Prednisone to reduce the swelling in her eyes. She will be going back to him next Tuesday for him to check on the swelling.

Warning: Predinone causes weight gain...

I had to stay at the hospital until she woke up from the sedation, so while I was on my way to the coffee shop, I passed by the Chapel. I wheeled the stroller inside and sat down to say a prayer for her. I was just so overcome with emotion about how little she is and how her life has just started, but yet has been through so much already. As she lay there in the stroller sleeping so peacefully, I just held her hand and cried. I no longer find myself asking "why" this happened to her, but instead asking God to heal her and not take away the sight that he just gave her. She's finally starting to see the world and unless we get the pressure in her eyes lowered, damage can be done and her vision will deteriorate. We just have to take a deep breath and do the best that we can to get her what she needs. We're trying to remain optimistic and be strong for her. But that's so hard right now.