Cutie

Yes Olivia is a cutie, I think we all agree.  But now it is even "written" right on her face for all to see.

So right now I'm sure you are all wondering what in the world I am talking about?!  This mama has apparently lost her marbles.  Today was Olivia's follow up appointment with Dr. Troia, the eye doctor.  And today he agreed with Jeff & I that despite a prescription change, her left eye is still turning in more frequently than the right.  Less frequently with the new glasses than the old.  But still turning & its dominately the left to the point where its time to worry about a lazy eye & worry about that left eye's vision suffering.  And we of course want to do whatever we need to do to preserve her vision.

Our options were either a patch on the right eye to force the left eye to the work.  Or eye drops in right eye to dilate the pupil making vision blurry & again force the left eye to do the work.  And as the sun today was beating down with record breaking temperatures for May.... I thought, how miserable would it be to have a dilated eye out in the bright sun all summer long?  Horrible.  So the the patch is the better choice for us. 

So..... Miss Livi officially has an eye patch.  I'm not nearly as bummed as I anticipated.  And way less depressed than I was going into all of this 10 months ago.  I have seen it coming for quite some time & I'd rather be doing this earlier than later.  It was time.  The one we chose actually fits onto her glasses as opposed to sticking to her face.  I told Jeff is she needs to wear it for a longer period of time, I am buying another so we can coordinate with her outfits :)

She is to wear it during all waking hours, except 2.  She can have 2 hours of a break each day.  And we will follow up with Dr. Troia in 2 weeks.  And not sure where it goes from there.  There really is no telling how long this patch will be part of our lives.  We'll just have to wait & see.  There is still the possibility down the road of her needing surgery to straighten her eyes.  But Dr. Troia said (& I have also read) that the surgery itself does nothing to actually IMPROVE vision.  So treatments like glasses, patches, etc. need to always be done first. 

It doesn't seem to have phased her.  I think her depth perception is a little off.  But I can't imagine going all afternoon with 1 eye covered!  She was giggly & cheerful as ever tonight.  She is SUCH a good girl!!