Friday: 5/2

Hey, I'm actually typing a post about Friday on Friday! I was unable to go with Justin to his appointment today. This always frustrates me because I want so badly to be where he is! I want to be by his side if he receives bad news or if he has some big decisions to make right there on the spot. I would gladly pick everything up and drive him anywhere if he needed to go, so it bothers me when I can't because we need me to be here at work sometimes. That's how I feel today.


Here is how today's appointment went...


They always call Justin into the office twice--once to dilate his eyes, check his eye pressure, ask how much light he can see, or if he can see anything from a distance AND the second time to see the doctor. He went in the first time and they could get a pressure reading on him. This is bad because it means the pressure is so low the device can't detect it. Oh, and the device they use isn't that little puff of air they shoot in your eye when you go to get an eye exam...they use this thing that resembles a digital thermometer and they actually press up against his eye! Not only was his eye pressure undetectable, but he was unable to see the guy waving his hand in front of him. Last week he could see the guy waving his hand. We knew something was going on though because Justin had been experiencing some weird light flashes and the light he could see had all-of-a-sudden gotten dimmer. He seriously thought his retina had detached since the doctor was so surprised last week that it hadn't.

When he saw the doctor, he was told that his retina was still intact!! That is great news. The doctor was sure that the retina had detached before he looked in his eye. The retina not detaching is definitely God's doing! We are encouraged by this.

Now the low eye pressure was very concerning. They sent Justin to the lab for an ultrasound of his eye. The technician was able to feel how soft his eye was which is scary. You see, when your eye pressure gets lower your eye gets softer. This is how we know that Justin's eye pressure is SO much lower without actually being able to get the reading. The ultrasound just proved that the retina was not detached.

The doctor said the reason for the low eye pressure could be because there is also scar tissue on Justin's ciliary body which is the part in his eye that makes aqueous humor. The scar tissue could be causing the ciliary body to not make the aqueous humor which means the eye pressure will remain low. If the aqueous humor gets so low, and the eye pressure gets so low, Justin will go blind. The doctor said that he does not know how to do surgery on the ciliary body....afterall, retinas are his specialty. The retina doctor will talk with his colleagues and Justin's glaucoma doctor to see if they know of anything that can be done. We will find out next Friday when we go back.

I saw on the internet that there are such things as surgeries on the ciliary body so that is a little encouraging to know that surgeons can get back there. Of course we still don't know if anything can be done. This is an entirely new chapter in the problems of Justin's eye.

For now we have to wait which is hard. Harder for Justin than for me, of course. Every little change in his vision frightens us. We think: "Surely the retina is detached now!" Then we have to deal with the possibilities of that and all those questions of uncertainty that come flooding in. And then the next day his vision has changed in a way that leads us to believe that no the retina has not detached. Every week is sort of a roller coaster. We have our good days where it is easy for us to trust in God and see beyond what so many other people are seeing as hopeless. (it is hard for me to believe, but there are so many people who see blind people as worthless) Then there are bad days where we have doubts and the negativity seems to consume us. Thank goodness that there are so many more good days than bad! Justin has the best attitude ever and I have a large amount of respect for him because of that.

Oh! Another good thing the doctor told Justin was that the head positionings are not as important anymore. That means he can sleep on his right side too if he wants. :) He is still supposed to take it easy though, which isn't too hard for him considering he gets so tired so quickly now because he was in bed for so long.

Okay...I think that is it. I hope I haven't forgotten anything. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for us.