Betsy's Eyes

On Friday(July 1st) we went to the eye doctor. This is the appointment we have been anticipating since we have been home from China. When we accepted Betsy's refferal her special need was Nystagmus of the left eye. Nystagmus is a shaking of the eye. It can be very mild to very severe. When we asked about her eye we were told that if you are looking at her you could not see the shaking. The only thing we could tell from pictures was that her right eye seemed to turn in. When we were in China and went for her medical exam the doctor told us the Nystagmus was undetectable. We were also told by the orphanage director that she was going to get glasses the week we went to get her, but since we were getting her that week they decided to hold off on getting the glasses. Well, when we went to the doctor Friday we found out the reason the Nystagmus was undetectable...it's because she doesn't have Nystagmus!! She really has a problem with both of her eyes called Alternating Esotropia. When we got Betsy we could tell that both of her eyes seemed to turn in at different times. Sometimes we would look at her and both eyes looked like they were turning in. Our eye doctor also told us Friday that she has monocular vision which means she is only seeing out of one eye at a time. So, it would be like covering one eye for a little while then covering the other eye and seeing out of it for a little while. He said she has probably experienced double vision from time to time. After the exam was completed he told us that she is not far sighted which is usually the case when you have a child with a "lazy eye", so glasses would not help her. He told us we would need to go to a pediatric opthamologist. Dr. Cobb also said that she would probably need surgery to correct her problem. The surgery would reposition the eye muscles so her eyes would not turn in anymore. Then, after surgery we would need to do eye therepy to correct the monocular vision so she would be able to see equally out of both eyes. The good news is that her vision is good, and if she does need surgery it would be outpatient. Our appointment to see the pediatric opthamologist will not be until September 7th, which was the first available appointment they had. I am so thankful for our precious little girl. I pray that we are the blessing to her throughout her life that she has already been to us. I am so glad we can get her the help she needs for her sweet little eyes:)