I SEE you.

Oh, how we love our Cade.

This guy is the picture perfect first child. 

(so far... I mean, let's not jinx ourselves ;))

We had another trip to the eye doctor today. Just me and Cade....three hour excursion.

There was great news and not-so-fun news.

(To get a brief history on Cade's eye condition, click here)

The GREAT news is... he hasn't worn a patch for 6 months, and his vision is... ::drumroll::

20/20!! 

No need for glasses!! :D That means that the patching worked, and his "lazy" eye is now staying up to par with the other eye.

I got choked up to hear that. It meant so much to me, and was such an answer to prayer. 

The not-so-fun news is, he has a surgery scheduled for November.

Why you ask?

 If you notice in the picture above, Cade's head is tilted a little to his left. I (and the doctor) noticed this a while ago. What happens is that, just like any muscle in the body, when full function is not happening, and certain muscles aren't being used as much as they should (in this case, the one muscle in Cade's eye that has no function) then the other muscles start to tighten up. So now his left eye is starting to pull to the inside. He still wants to use both eyes together, so he has an ever-worsening case of the head-tilt-to-the-left. 

This can affect many things, including his neck. For sports, reading, his social environment, etc. etc. etc. it is best to just take the center muscle on his eye, and move it a little over to the left side, to straighten out that eye, and straighten out his head. 

We need this kid to perform in the batters box, ya know?!

So we are doing it.

The only concern is that it may happen again eventually in the future, and a surgery may have to happen again. Because of him having no nerve in the very left muscle on his left eye, there is no way to ever fully "condition" those other muscles, or "exercise" them. Surgery is the only fix.

So there is no guarantee the fix will last forever. Those muscles could tighten up again in the future, and he may need to do it again sometime.

The surgery is still very non-invasive. It's an outpatient surgery and he should be good to go to school after a few days, and good to go after a couple of weeks of swelling and bruising.

I am grateful for modern medicine. I am grateful for this woman's knowledge and ability to help my son so that his vision didn't continue to get worse, and this head tilt. More so, I am grateful that my son can see, and for the no-need for glasses, and for his eyes being able to serve him in this life.

So much to be thankful for, but most of all, our trooper, Cade!