Rayden had not seen Dr. Grace since this past summer. I could really tell a huge difference in him from his last visit. He would not cooperate or tell them anything the last time we came. Dr. Grace couldn't even examine him really. This time he was amazing. I didn't have to hold him down or even have him sit in my lap. He covered his eyes accordingly and told each exam assistant everything they needed to know. He sat perfectly still for Dr. Grace to examine his eyes. She said his optic nerves are still swollen (permanent damage, so not surprising). His prescription is 20/60 right eye and 20/80 left eye. With this vision he would need to continue wearing his glasses to read/write. She seemed more concerned with his left eye. Although Rayden had strabismus surgery on his eyes and we have been patching four hours a day, it is STILL drifting inward. She believes his left eye should be doing as well (responding to treatment) as his right eye but it isn't. When she had his right eye covered she showed him a picture but he said he couldn't see it. She asked him numerous times and he tried hard but couldn't. When she gave up and uncovered his right eye, he said "Oh, it's a Christmas tree." He can clearly see much better with his right eye. She believes this is also the root of his fine motor problems. Due to this lack of improvement she is referring him to Dr. El-Dairi, Pediatric Neuro-opthalmologist, to get better optic nerve pictures at the main Duke office. Her theory is the prolonged high intracranial pressure on his optic nerves before birth has caused more permanent damage to his left side and there really isn't anything she can do to correct it. Here again, Rayden writes his own book. He is just so unique. I'm very thankful to have such wonderful doctors that work so well together and have genuine concern for his well being. I don't know what the future holds for Rayden with his vision, but I know God has a plan.
