Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
February Fun
Well, my goal of monthly posts is looking more like every 2 months now! It's been a busy couple months since Christmas. Lucas isn't a big fan of the snow but we've managed to get him out a couple of times - the thought of losing contacts in the snow is a little scary!
We FINALLY got Lucas's glasses just after my last post. It is such a relief to finally have back-up correction! The difference in his vision is definitely noticeable in glasses compared to contact lenses, and makes us even more thankful that we have the option of the contacts. While they are great as a back-up and to have to use during baths and swimming, he has to look directly through the centre of the glasses to get the full correction. At this age it is tough to make that happen consistently. If these were his only option, his brain would likely not be developing the same quality of vision he is gaining by having the contacts.
He says "ga-ga" for glasses and blinks his eyes for contacts now. For the most part he leaves the glasses on when he wears them, but lately that has been more of an issue - I'll explain that later!
We were back to see our pediatric opthamologist in Hamilton in January for a follow up visit. It went something like this: "He's good. It's good. Everything's good. I'm happy. You're happy. It's good. Come back in a couple months. Let's make it 3 months. It's all good." I told him the contacts are falling out about once a day - his response? "It's good. If they fall out 20 times a day then come back and we'll look at the fit again but once a day is okay." Easy for him to say - he's not the one crawling on hands and knees desperately searching for an impossibly small blue disc at any given time of the day! But who am I to argue with "it's all good" - so no more scheduled trips to Hamilton until the spring, when we will likely have another exam under anesthetic to re-check eye pressures and do updated measurements. We were also able to pick up the back-up contact lenses we had ordered so at least if we lose one we have a replacement.
We have only lost one lens in the last couple months - and frustratingly enough it was when we were in Florida and we know it is in the hotel room but couldn't find it. I have found lost lenses in the middle of the floor at Chapters (I somewhat terrified my friend's 2 year old who was running across the floor directly in line with the lens when I did my slow motion dive across the floor shouting "Noooooo...." - but I saved the lens!), one lens was miraculously recovered after losing it at Maiya's gymnastics club - which inconveniently has floors made of blue mats, making searching for a blue lens somewhat difficult - not to mention dodging the 30 kids doing gymnastics around me while searching on hands and knees...), and the other night at the table we realized he had, for the first time, lost BOTH lenses - and we found one under the table, which narrowly missed being eaten by our dog Buddy, and the other was on the other side of the kitchen on the floor by the dishwasher. I wish I had pictures to show just how crazy it is to actually find the lenses in these places!
Our luck did run out in Florida as I mentioned - for a number of reasons! We started the trip by waking the kids up in the middle of the night to head to the airport - and when we turned the light on realized Lucas's left eye was swollen half shut. It was fine when he went to bed so we had no idea what happened. Scary enough with any child, but with him anything eye-related is somewhat likely to induce panic for us! The picture was what it looked like to start and it got progressively worse by the time we arrived in Orlando.
So off we went on a trip that was riddled with trouble (nothing life-threatening but just one thing after another going wrong!) and spent the first day in Florida finding a doctor to check out his eye. Fortunately it seems that it was something on the external lid and only needed treatments of warm compresses (still no idea what actually caused it). As a result, he had to wear his glasses for half the week - and as I mentioned earlier, he got sick of that pretty quick and no longer leaves them on for very long! They were great when he was in the pool though as he could at least see what was going on around him for the most part. We were able to put his contacts back in towards the end of the trip which was great other than losing one!
We spent one day together at Universal in Orlando. One of the best moments was getting a picture with Gru, from the movie Despicable Me, which Maiya loves. We tried to get Lucas to smile but he couldn't really see very well, so we said it was okay and went to walk away. "Gru" stopped us and pulled the stroller towards him and knelt down and spent a few minutes trying to get Lucas to smile. It was a great moment, so sweet and so great of "Gru" to take the time to do that! We decided Lucas looked like one of his "minions" from the movie.
Unfortunately the trip required a second emergency doctor visit as Lucas then developed an ear/chest/throat infection and spent several nights up with fever, coughing and difficulty breathing. Poor little guy. So our plans were rearranged a bit but we did manage to get him in the pool at the end of the week for a bit of fun - I think he will be a swimmer for sure!
Maiya had a blast at Universal and at Disney. She loved the new Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom and meeting characters was fun as always. We made it to Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba too and it was pretty amazing to watch Lucas watching the show (well - the first 45 minutes, and then he got a bit restless!). The pool at the hotel was fantastic, including a big waterslide and a pirate ship! She loved the waterslide and managed to perfect a few new tricks in the pool. (there is a video link after the waterslide picture so if you are reading on an iPad check it out on another device to see the video).
Lucas has also been discharged from Occupational Therapy at KidsAbility after his follow-up visit - he is pretty much on track developmentally for gross and fine motor. He has a speech and language follow up in March which we expect he will be discharged from as well, although they may monitor him for another 6 months because he is ESL. He signs for "please", "milk", "more", "thank-you" and is saying (his version at least) lots of words - "Poppa", "cracker", "All done", "Scout", "Up", "Cheese", and his newest - "G.G." - for Great Grandma Myra.
We missed celebrating Tet (Vietnamese New Year) because of the trip and another function, but our fabulous friends Regan and Erica took Maiya to the New Year Party in Waterloo for us and she had a blast. I once again attempted joint photos of the two in their ao dais, and managed to get one at least before Lucas was off and running. I have a feeling this will be the case for awhile since he is constantly on the move! We are looking forward to celebrating together on Saturday at the annual Tet party in Toronto that we have attended every year since Maiya came home.
We FINALLY got Lucas's glasses just after my last post. It is such a relief to finally have back-up correction! The difference in his vision is definitely noticeable in glasses compared to contact lenses, and makes us even more thankful that we have the option of the contacts. While they are great as a back-up and to have to use during baths and swimming, he has to look directly through the centre of the glasses to get the full correction. At this age it is tough to make that happen consistently. If these were his only option, his brain would likely not be developing the same quality of vision he is gaining by having the contacts.
He says "ga-ga" for glasses and blinks his eyes for contacts now. For the most part he leaves the glasses on when he wears them, but lately that has been more of an issue - I'll explain that later!
We were back to see our pediatric opthamologist in Hamilton in January for a follow up visit. It went something like this: "He's good. It's good. Everything's good. I'm happy. You're happy. It's good. Come back in a couple months. Let's make it 3 months. It's all good." I told him the contacts are falling out about once a day - his response? "It's good. If they fall out 20 times a day then come back and we'll look at the fit again but once a day is okay." Easy for him to say - he's not the one crawling on hands and knees desperately searching for an impossibly small blue disc at any given time of the day! But who am I to argue with "it's all good" - so no more scheduled trips to Hamilton until the spring, when we will likely have another exam under anesthetic to re-check eye pressures and do updated measurements. We were also able to pick up the back-up contact lenses we had ordered so at least if we lose one we have a replacement.
We have only lost one lens in the last couple months - and frustratingly enough it was when we were in Florida and we know it is in the hotel room but couldn't find it. I have found lost lenses in the middle of the floor at Chapters (I somewhat terrified my friend's 2 year old who was running across the floor directly in line with the lens when I did my slow motion dive across the floor shouting "Noooooo...." - but I saved the lens!), one lens was miraculously recovered after losing it at Maiya's gymnastics club - which inconveniently has floors made of blue mats, making searching for a blue lens somewhat difficult - not to mention dodging the 30 kids doing gymnastics around me while searching on hands and knees...), and the other night at the table we realized he had, for the first time, lost BOTH lenses - and we found one under the table, which narrowly missed being eaten by our dog Buddy, and the other was on the other side of the kitchen on the floor by the dishwasher. I wish I had pictures to show just how crazy it is to actually find the lenses in these places!
Our luck did run out in Florida as I mentioned - for a number of reasons! We started the trip by waking the kids up in the middle of the night to head to the airport - and when we turned the light on realized Lucas's left eye was swollen half shut. It was fine when he went to bed so we had no idea what happened. Scary enough with any child, but with him anything eye-related is somewhat likely to induce panic for us! The picture was what it looked like to start and it got progressively worse by the time we arrived in Orlando.
So off we went on a trip that was riddled with trouble (nothing life-threatening but just one thing after another going wrong!) and spent the first day in Florida finding a doctor to check out his eye. Fortunately it seems that it was something on the external lid and only needed treatments of warm compresses (still no idea what actually caused it). As a result, he had to wear his glasses for half the week - and as I mentioned earlier, he got sick of that pretty quick and no longer leaves them on for very long! They were great when he was in the pool though as he could at least see what was going on around him for the most part. We were able to put his contacts back in towards the end of the trip which was great other than losing one!
We spent one day together at Universal in Orlando. One of the best moments was getting a picture with Gru, from the movie Despicable Me, which Maiya loves. We tried to get Lucas to smile but he couldn't really see very well, so we said it was okay and went to walk away. "Gru" stopped us and pulled the stroller towards him and knelt down and spent a few minutes trying to get Lucas to smile. It was a great moment, so sweet and so great of "Gru" to take the time to do that! We decided Lucas looked like one of his "minions" from the movie.
Unfortunately the trip required a second emergency doctor visit as Lucas then developed an ear/chest/throat infection and spent several nights up with fever, coughing and difficulty breathing. Poor little guy. So our plans were rearranged a bit but we did manage to get him in the pool at the end of the week for a bit of fun - I think he will be a swimmer for sure!
Maiya had a blast at Universal and at Disney. She loved the new Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom and meeting characters was fun as always. We made it to Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba too and it was pretty amazing to watch Lucas watching the show (well - the first 45 minutes, and then he got a bit restless!). The pool at the hotel was fantastic, including a big waterslide and a pirate ship! She loved the waterslide and managed to perfect a few new tricks in the pool. (there is a video link after the waterslide picture so if you are reading on an iPad check it out on another device to see the video).
Lucas has also been discharged from Occupational Therapy at KidsAbility after his follow-up visit - he is pretty much on track developmentally for gross and fine motor. He has a speech and language follow up in March which we expect he will be discharged from as well, although they may monitor him for another 6 months because he is ESL. He signs for "please", "milk", "more", "thank-you" and is saying (his version at least) lots of words - "Poppa", "cracker", "All done", "Scout", "Up", "Cheese", and his newest - "G.G." - for Great Grandma Myra.
We missed celebrating Tet (Vietnamese New Year) because of the trip and another function, but our fabulous friends Regan and Erica took Maiya to the New Year Party in Waterloo for us and she had a blast. I once again attempted joint photos of the two in their ao dais, and managed to get one at least before Lucas was off and running. I have a feeling this will be the case for awhile since he is constantly on the move! We are looking forward to celebrating together on Saturday at the annual Tet party in Toronto that we have attended every year since Maiya came home.
January was a bit emotional as that marked 1 year from the time our agency's director first met Lucas and took his picture, the picture that started a chain of events that led to surgery and the first steps towards him being able to see - and to eventually be part of our family. February 18th was Family Day in Ontario, and fittingly marked 6 months from the first time we held Lucas in our arms and brought him "home" with us. This is the original photo that Dorinda took that day in January 2012.
Needless to say - when you look at it next to the pictures from the last couple of months, there really are no words to describe it. He is now the most beautiful, mischievous and funny little man and when I think about what he has achieved in the last 6 months, and in the last year, I can't wait to see what the future holds for him.
Monday, December 31, 2012
FIrst Christmas!
Well, so much for posting every couple weeks or even every month! It's been a busy few weeks since I last posted but will try to sum up the big events.
First - an update on Lucas's vision. Getting correction has been frustrating to say the least! After his exam under anesthetic, we had hoped to have new contact lenses within a week and a pair of glasses shortly after. We ended up waiting almost 2 weeks for the lenses and for the prescription for the glasses, and unfortunately having lost one of his lenses we had almost 2 weeks with no vision correction for him. It was very noticeable by the end of the 2 weeks in terms of his behaviour and mood - and who can blame him after finally starting to learn to see and then going back to having very limited vision!
We went back to Hamilton for the new lenses which are rigid lenses this time. I was not a fan but they have not been as bad as I was anticipating. The advantage is these have a blue tint so when they shift in his eye or are on the floor they are a bit easier to see (but the downside is they are breakable)! They stayed in really well for the first couple weeks but we are now losing them about once a day. We thought we lost one permanently, but we found it about a week and a half later in the crib. I found one in the bottom of a blue toy bucket - exactly the same colour as the lens, once underneath the toy box, on the steps, on the floor - you name it, we have found it!
We ordered a new pair after thinking the first pair was lost, but since they are custom made in Alberta they did not arrive before the holidays and the 2 week shutdown. The glasses - still waiting. We ordered them and after waiting for a few weeks called to check in - and found out one of the lenses had been broken and had to be re-ordered - from Florida. And again, they did not come in before the holidays, and the University of Waterloo office is closed until January as well. So it will basically take us close to 2 months to get these glasses - and we're thinking we should order a back-up pair since they take so long (but they are over $300 a pair too so without having any insurance that covers it, we will hold off for now!).
The glasses will not replace the use of the lenses, but they will allow us much more flexibility and better correction because he can have them on immediately when he wakes up, until we put the lenses in, and he can wear them as soon as we take the lenses out at night, which means correction pretty much the entire time he is awake, rather than the half hour or so in the morning and evening that he doesn't have the contacts in. They will also be helpful if someone else is babysitting him, or if we lose a contact and don't have a backup, etc.
With his vision improving, it is very noticeable now when he does not have one lens in. Before we could get away with it (not that we wanted to, but because of the issues we were having getting lenses in for him) but now you can almost see the brain trying to re-wire when he loses the vision in one eye when a contact falls out.
So we are getting closer to having good, consistent correction, but it is taking WAY longer than we anticipated and a lot more hurdles than expected too! We may have to try a different contact lens type too to try for a better fit if these keep falling out.
In terms of other development - well, he is basically fantastic. He is BUSY - gets into everything, climbs the stairs in seconds if you don't watch him - and is on the run! Once he got used to the new contacts he started trying to walk again, and by Christmas was going everywhere. He has just figured out how to stand up on his own without pulling up too. It is still strange to turn around and have him standing behind me or to hear his little footsteps running around! He still crawls, but is walking more than crawling now.
He is trying to say lots of words - he says more, thank-you, dada, mama, Yaya (Maiya), Santa, up, down, Poppa, waves hello and bye-bye, and puts his arms up for "hurray". He loves the songs on the iPad and knows to hit the screen to make the page turn to the next part. The Wheels on the Bus and the Itsy Bitsy Spider are his favourite.
Maiya's 6th birthday kicked off the start to the busy holiday season. Hard to believe that the little 6 month old baby we brought home is now a smart, beautiful, mischievous and funny 6 year old.
We had a great party with a few of her friends at the Homer Watson House & Art Gallery and the kids had fun making plasticene portraits of themselves.
Maiya is a fantastic big sister and Lucas absolutely adores her. She is doing great in her Gr. 1 French Immersion class and she is incredible at reading - I still find it hard to believe that she is reading chapter books already. I have never enjoyed listening to others read, always preferring to read myself, but I could listen to her read all day long!
Lucas had his first Santa encounter at Brett's ConAgra Kids Christmas Party. Maiya looks forward to the event every year and had a blast once again. She got the game Apples to Apples and has played it every day since!
We had my family for Christmas on the 23rd. Unfortunately my brother, Breydon, and family couldn't make it but hopefully we will see them soon. Lucas had fun running around with his cousins and opening presents. He is more excited about ripping paper into tiny little pieces than anything, but he loved the gifts too! Maiya lost her "first" tooth right before we opened gifts. She's had two wiggly teeth on the bottom for about a week. It's technically the 2nd tooth she's lost, but the first one was a damaged one that came out courtesy of the dentist - this was the first to come out on its own.
So, a visit from the tooth fairy on the night of the 23rd was followed by a visit from 7 of Santa's reindeer in the backyard on the 24th. It was our first visit this winter from the deer and well-timed for Christmas Eve!
My parents and my grandma stayed over on the 23rd and we enjoyed having Grandma Alma hang out with us for the day. Lucas and Maiya got to spend some quality time with their great-grandma. Lucas had some serious conversation with her while he ate his lunch, and Maiya enjoyed a few intense rounds of Uno with her later on!
My cousin, Matthew, came to pick Grandma up and was roped into a serious game of "fairy" - he looked great in his fairy wings I have to say. They thought his girlfriend, Nicole, might be jealous of Matthew's wings so we had to take a picture to show her!
Christmas Eve brought new pj's and lots of excitement getting ready for Santa's visit. Maiya was determined to stay up to catch Santa - when Brett went to check on her around 11, she opened her eyes and said, "Daddy, I'm going to wait up for Santa, but I'm going to sleep while I wait." I tried to get a decent shot of the 2 kids together but Lucas must have snuck some Christmas treats earlier in the day because he was WIRED and we couldn't get him to sit still for the shot!
From Stouffville we headed on to Oshawa for the Clarkson Christmas. It was a full house, with almost everyone there. Great-Grandma Muriel (Brett's grandma) passed away in the fall before we were able to introduce her to Lucas, but we had lots of good memories to share of her at Christmas. Uncle Bob and Aunt Rhonda once again did a great job of hosting the crew!
As the year is almost finished it is hard to believe how much has changed for us in 2012. We started the year as a family of 3 (plus Buddy of course), and in March saw the end of our 4 year wait for a referral as we accepted Lucas into our family (on paper!). 5 months of waiting finally led us to Vietnam and Lucas officially made us a family of 4. The final few months of the year have been a whirlwind of appointments and adjustments as Lucas has gotten settled and as we tackle each new aspect of his vision. So as one amazing year comes to a close, we look forward to all the adventures and possibilities that 2013 will bring us and wish everyone a Happy New Year!
First - an update on Lucas's vision. Getting correction has been frustrating to say the least! After his exam under anesthetic, we had hoped to have new contact lenses within a week and a pair of glasses shortly after. We ended up waiting almost 2 weeks for the lenses and for the prescription for the glasses, and unfortunately having lost one of his lenses we had almost 2 weeks with no vision correction for him. It was very noticeable by the end of the 2 weeks in terms of his behaviour and mood - and who can blame him after finally starting to learn to see and then going back to having very limited vision!
We went back to Hamilton for the new lenses which are rigid lenses this time. I was not a fan but they have not been as bad as I was anticipating. The advantage is these have a blue tint so when they shift in his eye or are on the floor they are a bit easier to see (but the downside is they are breakable)! They stayed in really well for the first couple weeks but we are now losing them about once a day. We thought we lost one permanently, but we found it about a week and a half later in the crib. I found one in the bottom of a blue toy bucket - exactly the same colour as the lens, once underneath the toy box, on the steps, on the floor - you name it, we have found it!
We ordered a new pair after thinking the first pair was lost, but since they are custom made in Alberta they did not arrive before the holidays and the 2 week shutdown. The glasses - still waiting. We ordered them and after waiting for a few weeks called to check in - and found out one of the lenses had been broken and had to be re-ordered - from Florida. And again, they did not come in before the holidays, and the University of Waterloo office is closed until January as well. So it will basically take us close to 2 months to get these glasses - and we're thinking we should order a back-up pair since they take so long (but they are over $300 a pair too so without having any insurance that covers it, we will hold off for now!).
The glasses will not replace the use of the lenses, but they will allow us much more flexibility and better correction because he can have them on immediately when he wakes up, until we put the lenses in, and he can wear them as soon as we take the lenses out at night, which means correction pretty much the entire time he is awake, rather than the half hour or so in the morning and evening that he doesn't have the contacts in. They will also be helpful if someone else is babysitting him, or if we lose a contact and don't have a backup, etc.
With his vision improving, it is very noticeable now when he does not have one lens in. Before we could get away with it (not that we wanted to, but because of the issues we were having getting lenses in for him) but now you can almost see the brain trying to re-wire when he loses the vision in one eye when a contact falls out.
So we are getting closer to having good, consistent correction, but it is taking WAY longer than we anticipated and a lot more hurdles than expected too! We may have to try a different contact lens type too to try for a better fit if these keep falling out.
In terms of other development - well, he is basically fantastic. He is BUSY - gets into everything, climbs the stairs in seconds if you don't watch him - and is on the run! Once he got used to the new contacts he started trying to walk again, and by Christmas was going everywhere. He has just figured out how to stand up on his own without pulling up too. It is still strange to turn around and have him standing behind me or to hear his little footsteps running around! He still crawls, but is walking more than crawling now.
He is trying to say lots of words - he says more, thank-you, dada, mama, Yaya (Maiya), Santa, up, down, Poppa, waves hello and bye-bye, and puts his arms up for "hurray". He loves the songs on the iPad and knows to hit the screen to make the page turn to the next part. The Wheels on the Bus and the Itsy Bitsy Spider are his favourite.
Maiya's 6th birthday kicked off the start to the busy holiday season. Hard to believe that the little 6 month old baby we brought home is now a smart, beautiful, mischievous and funny 6 year old.
We had a great party with a few of her friends at the Homer Watson House & Art Gallery and the kids had fun making plasticene portraits of themselves.
Maiya is a fantastic big sister and Lucas absolutely adores her. She is doing great in her Gr. 1 French Immersion class and she is incredible at reading - I still find it hard to believe that she is reading chapter books already. I have never enjoyed listening to others read, always preferring to read myself, but I could listen to her read all day long!
Lucas had his first Santa encounter at Brett's ConAgra Kids Christmas Party. Maiya looks forward to the event every year and had a blast once again. She got the game Apples to Apples and has played it every day since!
We had my family for Christmas on the 23rd. Unfortunately my brother, Breydon, and family couldn't make it but hopefully we will see them soon. Lucas had fun running around with his cousins and opening presents. He is more excited about ripping paper into tiny little pieces than anything, but he loved the gifts too! Maiya lost her "first" tooth right before we opened gifts. She's had two wiggly teeth on the bottom for about a week. It's technically the 2nd tooth she's lost, but the first one was a damaged one that came out courtesy of the dentist - this was the first to come out on its own.
So, a visit from the tooth fairy on the night of the 23rd was followed by a visit from 7 of Santa's reindeer in the backyard on the 24th. It was our first visit this winter from the deer and well-timed for Christmas Eve!
My parents and my grandma stayed over on the 23rd and we enjoyed having Grandma Alma hang out with us for the day. Lucas and Maiya got to spend some quality time with their great-grandma. Lucas had some serious conversation with her while he ate his lunch, and Maiya enjoyed a few intense rounds of Uno with her later on!
My cousin, Matthew, came to pick Grandma up and was roped into a serious game of "fairy" - he looked great in his fairy wings I have to say. They thought his girlfriend, Nicole, might be jealous of Matthew's wings so we had to take a picture to show her!
Christmas Eve brought new pj's and lots of excitement getting ready for Santa's visit. Maiya was determined to stay up to catch Santa - when Brett went to check on her around 11, she opened her eyes and said, "Daddy, I'm going to wait up for Santa, but I'm going to sleep while I wait." I tried to get a decent shot of the 2 kids together but Lucas must have snuck some Christmas treats earlier in the day because he was WIRED and we couldn't get him to sit still for the shot!
Christmas morning came too early for us, but with an excited 6 year old and a wiggly 16 month old, there's not much to do but get up and enjoy the moment! Later in the morning we headed back to Brussels for Christmas with Brett's family. Lucas had fun chasing his "big" cousin River around (he is a month older so they make quite a pair). Unfortunately G.G. (Great-Grandma Myra) wasn't feeling up to joining us but we had a nice chat on the phone and will hopefully catch up soon.
On the 29th we headed out to Stouffville to finally introduce Lucas to his Great-Grandma Anna. Even though it was short, we had a great visit. Lucas played "pat-a-cake" with her and checked out her new room and Maiya and Grandma had fun checking out Grandma's stuffed animals and comparing their blue sweaters. Although we don't get to see her often, Grandma Anna holds a special place in our hearts and we were so glad we got to visit.
From Stouffville we headed on to Oshawa for the Clarkson Christmas. It was a full house, with almost everyone there. Great-Grandma Muriel (Brett's grandma) passed away in the fall before we were able to introduce her to Lucas, but we had lots of good memories to share of her at Christmas. Uncle Bob and Aunt Rhonda once again did a great job of hosting the crew!
As the year is almost finished it is hard to believe how much has changed for us in 2012. We started the year as a family of 3 (plus Buddy of course), and in March saw the end of our 4 year wait for a referral as we accepted Lucas into our family (on paper!). 5 months of waiting finally led us to Vietnam and Lucas officially made us a family of 4. The final few months of the year have been a whirlwind of appointments and adjustments as Lucas has gotten settled and as we tackle each new aspect of his vision. So as one amazing year comes to a close, we look forward to all the adventures and possibilities that 2013 will bring us and wish everyone a Happy New Year!
Monday, November 19, 2012
Getting caught up
I am finally getting around to posting some Halloween pics a few weeks late! This was Lucas's first pumpkin carving experience - he was very curious about the whole thing but wasn't so sure what he thought of feeling the cold, slimy pumpkin innards!
The finished jack-o'-lanterns!
Lucas still loves his big sister the best. Even when she's too zoned into the TV to pay attention and share her snack with him. Notice the grip he has on her shirt!
Halloween night ended up not being as miserable weather-wise as was expected, so we managed to get a few awesome shots of Lucas and Maiya before they headed out trick-or-treating. Lucas was bundled up as a frog and Maiya made a very stylish pirate princess! Lucas visited a couple of close friends and neighbours for his Halloween debut, then helped me hand out treats while Brett and Maiya scoured the neighbourhood to fill her bag full of treats (and lucky for us she still doesn't mind sharing!). It was all good until about 15 minutes after they left, then Lucas decided he had had enough of the whole Halloween experience and proceeded rapidly towards an all out meltdown. Lucky for me we have awesome friends who live around the corner and Erica quickly answered my emergency text and sent Reagan over to man the front door while I wrestled Lucas into pj's and out of his contacts and into bed.
Appointments - we've had a few! It's been a busy few weeks to say the least. First we had our KidsAbility Developmental Assessment in Kitchener. A team consisting of a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, and a speech and language pathologist met with Lucas and me to assess where he is at developmentally. He was in a great mood the day we went and was putting on a great performance for them! I think at times they stopped believing me when I kept saying 2 months ago (at that time) he couldn't pick up a Cheerio let alone chew it! We had great news from all 3 - basically physio discharged him right away, OT will see him in about a month just as a check in for a couple of skills and he will likely be discharged at that point, and S&L will do a check in about 6 months but has no significant concerns at this time. In other words - he's pretty on track developmentally, which means he's made significant gains in the last 3 months. I did an informal skills assessment on him when we were in Vietnam and his fine motor and a few other things were about 6 months behind, and he has caught up in almost all of those areas now.
The opthamologist visit has also happened since I last posted. We had our first visit to McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton with a pediatric opthamologist in October. It was an okay visit, but Lucas's contacts were bothering him and he pretty much refused to open his eyes. The opthamologist thought he had an infection and prescribed antibiotic drops (and therefore, no contact lens) for a week. It might not sound like a big deal, but a week without corrected vision in his weaker eye is a long time and it's hard not to worry about the impact on his vision. The visit felt rushed and as if he didn't really know much about Lucas or his vision, and that he was making alot of quick decisions and assumptions - note this as my interpretation - Brett thought the visit was great!
Anyway - as expected, the doctor wanted to do an EUA (exam under anesthetic). When kids are young and wiggly and generally not very cooperative with having their eyes poked and prodded, they often do the exam under anesthetic. This was booked for November 14. We had our pre-op visit on the 13th, only to be told that because Lucas had been in a hospital outside of Canada within the past year, he had to have "special precautions" the day of the procedure. One of which was swabs - at both ends - and which I had the joy and privilege of conducting on him! Was even more fun considering there was a nurse standing in the same room while I had to do it - I kept hoping she'd offer to take over! Fortunately they didn't cancel the procedure, but they did change it to the last appointment of the day so that he didn't "contaminate" the operating room. All this and nothing to prove there was anything to be precautious about! The nurse that was sorting it all out was very kind and helpful, so it made it alot easier!
The hardest part about the change was that it meant Lucas had to go without eating for almost 22 hours. Because he goes to bed around 7 pm, and couldn't eat past midnight, it was a very long wait until the procedure which was booked for 2:30. It also meant we had to scramble to get Maiya taken care of since we were going to be much later getting home - but once again we were saved by great friends, and she was able to go home with her friend Lauren (thanks Parr family!!) after school, and then my friend Mel picked her up and took her home.
Lucas was absolutely amazing waiting for the exam. We were in a cubicle waiting the whole time, since we needed the "extra precautions". Which for us basically meant that at one point they came in and made us put on hospital gowns with cuffed sleeves. Not a big deal but they were a little on the warm side! But Lucas - despite not having had more than 4 oz of formula and 4 oz of juice - was just fantastic. He didn't cry other than for the dilating drops, and just cuddled or played on the iPad or with his toys. They called us in around 3:20pm, and Brett carried him into the operating room where they gave him the anesthetic, and he was under for about half an hour. We were in recovery for about an hour and a half as the anesthetic wore off and he was again really great. He was only slightly fussy but it was mostly because he wanted to eat and eat and they didn't want him to have too much to start!
The result? Very good news once again. The opthamologist tested his eye pressures which were found to be normal (we will have to always monitor, but this was GREAT news), the optic nerve is healthy (very important for vision development), no issues with scarring at this point - basically everything looks good, which confirms what we had heard at the University of Waterloo appointment. His prescription is changing and we are going to give a new kind of contact lenses a try, which we have to go back to McMaster for next week. The lenses are cheaper, but are more likely to fall out so we will see.
We lost our 2nd contact lens on Friday. So frustrating to have lost it so close to getting the new prescription. We are trying to get through the week with an old lens that we had kept, but it's likely not going to work for the whole week.
So that's about where we are at. He is getting more consistent with taking 5-6 steps at a time on his own, but he's not quite ready to go on his own yet. He is definitely less willing to try when he doesn't have his contacts both in, so hopefully once we get back on track with that it will help! He signs for "more", puts his arms up over his head when we cheer "hooray", swishes his head back and forth for the wipers on the bus, put his arms up and down for "up" and "down" and is almost saying the words, signs "thank you", gives kisses, calls Maiya "mah-mah" or "ya-ya" and imitates her all the time. All in all he is doing great!
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Just having fun...
Still waiting on our exam under anesthetic at McMaster - booked for November 14th, so we will hopefully have more answers about Lucas's eyes then. A little nervous since he supposedly had a reaction to anesthetic in April during his last procedure but we don't have any details, so hoping it doesn't happen again.
Will post more updates in the next post with some Halloween pics, but thought I'd put up this video of him with his walker - still not going on his own yet but so close!
Monday, October 15, 2012
The "eyes" have it...
It's been a busy couple of weeks with Thanksgiving and a visit to the optometrist for Lucas. We were supposed to also go to McMaster Children's Hospital for our first opthamologist visit but unfortunately it was cancelled the day of and is rebooked for this week.
Alot of people have asked about Lucas's eyes and wonder what the long-term prognosis is, whether laser surgery is an option in the future, etc. So I thought I'd try to write a little of what we know so far - and we still have alot to learn!
Lucas was born with bilateral congenital cataracts. Basically bilateral means he had them in both eyes (as opposed to unilateral, or one eye). Congenital simply means the cataracts are present at birth or early on in an infant's life.
Lucas was born near the end of August 2011, and in January 2012 our adoption agency's director was at the Go Vap orphanage where Lucas was living. The caregivers said he was blind, and she asked to take a picture of him in the hope that maybe she could find a family for him. She noticed that Lucas seemed to react to the flash of the camera, and based on her experience with facilitating an adoption a couple years ago for a little girl who also had congenital cataracts, she suspected cataracts might also be the issue for him. She was given permission to take him to the same opthamologist in Ho Chi Minh City who had performed the surgery on the other child, and Lucas was given the diagnosis of congenital cataracts. The opthamologist said they were operable, and our agency's director was able to coordinate the funds to pay for the operations. With bilateral cataracts, each eye is operated on at a different time to help reduce the risk of cross-infection and also so that if complications arise with one eye, decisions can then be made before operating on the second eye.
Dr. Pham, his opthamologist, who was trained at Georgetown University in Washington, performed surgery on each eye when he was 4-5 months old. Cataracts are not growths in the eye, rather the natural lens in the eye has become cloudy. The removal is actually the removal of the lens. He also had follow up procedures to remove scar tissue following the initial surgeries.
At about 8 months old, once his eyes had healed, he was given contact lenses to wear. Lucas is now aphakic , meaning he no longer has a natural lens in his eye. The lens is the part of the eye that focuses the image on the retina which is then transmitted to the brain to be processed and understood.
Many people ask about glasses or laser surgery to "fix" his eyesight. Laser surgery (at least laser eye surgery that many people get today so they don't have to wear contacts or glasses) does not address the issue for Lucas. He needs the contacts in order to replace the function of his natural lens, so Lasik or other types of similar surgeries would not help him.
Glasses - why not give him glasses instead of fighting to insert and remove the contact lenses? At this stage, contacts give him the best possible vision. They give him the ability to have a focused image for his brain to interpret. The ability of the brain to interpret what the eye sees develops over the first 6-7 years of life. Glasses at this stage and without wearing a contact lens would basically magnify an image for him, and likely create a distorted image, rather than giving him a focused image that contacts can. He has lost a year's worth of time of his brain "learning" to see the images the eyes send it. However, with the cataracts removed, he was able to see light, movements and (we think) some shapes, so his brain was at least able to start understanding some of what he was seeing, which was very important.
However! He will eventually wear glasses AND contact lenses! His contact prescription is currently set to give him focused vision up close, since as a toddler his world is mostly based on things being near him. As he gets older, the prescription will eventually change to give him focused vision at a distance, and he will wear bifocals or reading glasses for close up. Because he does not have a natural lens, he will not be able to have multiple focal points like we do (i.e., look at something across the yard and then focus on something on the table in front of him), so this is typically how the issue is addressed.
Implants - yes, there is such a thing as a lens implant, and it is typically done when an adult has cataracts removed, usually during the removal surgery. The difference? In an adult, doctors can create an implant with an accurate prescription for vision. In a young child, it is a "guess-timate" - if they guess wrong, the lens will not provide a clear image and a new implant may be required, or other types of correction needed. However, if a child becomes unable to tolerate the contact lenses (allergies, etc.) then an implant becomes more of an option. Another consideration is that every procedure done to the eyes increases risks for glaucoma, retinal detachment, infection, etc. - so if the contact lenses and glasses are working, many doctors prefer to leave well enough alone and protect the health of the eye as much as possible. (This is a very simplified outline of implants - young babies do receive them, and there are many factors which are considered for each patient - for Lucas the implant is not something we will consider at this point, unless something changes that requires it.)
So now that he has contacts can he see? Ah, the million dollar question! This is also complicated. Removing the cataracts is the first step. Providing "correction" is next. Unfortunately the reality of living in an orphanage means that it is impossible to monitor his eyes 24/7. If you've followed our journey so far, you will know that we have "lost" the lenses many times and been lucky to find them (well, except for 1!) - with us watching him all the time! We constantly watch for him rubbing his eyes, try to check them before he moves to a different space so we can keep track, etc. In his room in the orphanage there were more than 20 babies in the room, and there is no way they could watch him constantly. By early July all the lenses had been lost, which meant until we got there he was once again without corrected vision.
The point? The cataracts are gone and he has correction - but the critical part is now his brain needs to "learn" how to see. Brain develop is the most important piece, because developing those neural pathways is what allows him to know what he is seeing. His actual eyes are only one part of that.
So can he see? According to our visit to the University of Waterloo Pediatric Optometry Clinic before Thanksgiving, the answer is a giant "YES"! We had been communicating with Dr. Jones, a professor in the program there, since March when we first received the referral to consider adopting Lucas. She was extremely helpful in answering our questions and helping us understand the information that we had received. We were VERY excited to find out she would actually take him on as a patient, and that we could get in before Thanksgiving. 2 student optometrists and Dr. Jones spent over an hour examining his eyes, and were basically surprised at how well he is doing given his background. They estimated his vision to be at about 20/100 (20/20 is perfect vision and I think 20/200 is legally blind), so he is well on his way! They were also able to tell us the health of the eye looks good, and that he is using his vision to explore the world around him. They predict he will have fairly functional vision in the future! He will always need ongoing monitoring and glasses/contacts, and he will always be at a higher risk for glaucoma, etc., but at this point they were very optimistic that he will continue to develop his vision and not require blind/low vision supports when he is older.
We still have a long way to go, but needless to say I was about a billion pounds lighter walking out of that appointment with the weight of the world lifted off me! (They also told me to stop looking up stuff on the internet and freaking myself out...). I can't say enough good things about the appointment and how from the time I entered the building every person I met helped direct me to the right spot and made both Lucas and I feel so comfortable and taken care of. We are so thankful that Dr. Jones will continue to see him!
We still have to see the opthamology department at McMaster to look at other aspects of his eye health, such as monitoring his IOL (interocular pressure) and watching for glaucoma, etc. We are not sure yet who will be helping us with his contact lenses in terms of monitoring and updating those, but it is starting to come together.
So a long post to get to this point - he is doing great! He has tough days where his eyes are more light sensitive and watery and those days he likes to be held ALOT and isn't as interactive. But he has days like today where he gave us tons of eye contact, explored lots of toys and spaces, was goofy and laughing, curious and responsive, and happy. So bit by bit his brain is doing the difficult and exhausting work of learning to process everything his eyes are taking in, and we are getting there.
Thanksgiving was quiet for the most part but we had a fantastic time on Thanksgiving Monday with my dad's side of the family ALL together (the Ontario part - missed having the families who are in Saskatchewan and Alberta with us!) for the first time in a while - 19 "little kids", 18 "big kids" and 6 adults - just missing my Grandma Heise who is in a nursing home in Stouffville now and wasn't able to come. It was a gorgeous day and my aunts and cousins did a fantastic job of getting everything set up and decorated. It was potluck with a ton of food of course. The kids all played together, ranging in age from 17 down to Lucas at 1 yr. old, basketball, playground, scavenger hunt, catch, etc. The highlight was trying to corral 19 kids into 1 photo and get them all looking at the same time - a task made slightly more challenging after the screaming and running from some of the ones taking the photos when a large garter snake made its presence known! Here are a couple shots (hopefully my cousins forgive me for posting the pic without getting permission from them!):
My favourite shot of 2 of my nieces, Chantler & Willow, with Maiya:
Lucas with my big brothers, Craig and Breydon:
Our first visit to the pumpkin patch on the weekend with Lucas - right when the sun disappeared, the wind picked up and it was damp and freezing - gave up on trying to get a picture with Lucas actually looking at the camera - he was more interested in the dirt on the ground! Maiya tried so hard though!
Some shots from home - he'll be reading chapter books by Christmas I'm sure!
We were happy to have a visit from some friends from my work and were surprised with some gifts, flowers, a beautiful cake (thanks for the cake Jagoda!) for Lucas.
We got the art work framed for Lucas that we bought in Vietnam and absolutely LOVE the way it turned out. We took the rest of the pieces we bought to get done this weekend so hope they turn out as well (these were the ones we bought in the little alley/shop that was also a motorcycle parking garage - there's a picture of it on an earlier post!).
Lucas also got to spend time with 2 of his great-grandma's on Thanksgiving weekend - GG (Brett's Grandma Myra) and Grandma Alma (my Grandma Watson). Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera! But it was great watching him with them - both Maiya and Lucas are very blessed to have 4 grandparents and 4 great-grandma's in their lives.
We hope to head to McMaster on Thursday and we have a developmental assessment team meeting with us in early November from KidsAbility, a meeting with our CNIB home support worker and the vision family support worker from KidsAbility this week - so lots still coming up!
Alot of people have asked about Lucas's eyes and wonder what the long-term prognosis is, whether laser surgery is an option in the future, etc. So I thought I'd try to write a little of what we know so far - and we still have alot to learn!
Lucas was born with bilateral congenital cataracts. Basically bilateral means he had them in both eyes (as opposed to unilateral, or one eye). Congenital simply means the cataracts are present at birth or early on in an infant's life.
Lucas was born near the end of August 2011, and in January 2012 our adoption agency's director was at the Go Vap orphanage where Lucas was living. The caregivers said he was blind, and she asked to take a picture of him in the hope that maybe she could find a family for him. She noticed that Lucas seemed to react to the flash of the camera, and based on her experience with facilitating an adoption a couple years ago for a little girl who also had congenital cataracts, she suspected cataracts might also be the issue for him. She was given permission to take him to the same opthamologist in Ho Chi Minh City who had performed the surgery on the other child, and Lucas was given the diagnosis of congenital cataracts. The opthamologist said they were operable, and our agency's director was able to coordinate the funds to pay for the operations. With bilateral cataracts, each eye is operated on at a different time to help reduce the risk of cross-infection and also so that if complications arise with one eye, decisions can then be made before operating on the second eye.
Dr. Pham, his opthamologist, who was trained at Georgetown University in Washington, performed surgery on each eye when he was 4-5 months old. Cataracts are not growths in the eye, rather the natural lens in the eye has become cloudy. The removal is actually the removal of the lens. He also had follow up procedures to remove scar tissue following the initial surgeries.
At about 8 months old, once his eyes had healed, he was given contact lenses to wear. Lucas is now aphakic , meaning he no longer has a natural lens in his eye. The lens is the part of the eye that focuses the image on the retina which is then transmitted to the brain to be processed and understood.
Many people ask about glasses or laser surgery to "fix" his eyesight. Laser surgery (at least laser eye surgery that many people get today so they don't have to wear contacts or glasses) does not address the issue for Lucas. He needs the contacts in order to replace the function of his natural lens, so Lasik or other types of similar surgeries would not help him.
Glasses - why not give him glasses instead of fighting to insert and remove the contact lenses? At this stage, contacts give him the best possible vision. They give him the ability to have a focused image for his brain to interpret. The ability of the brain to interpret what the eye sees develops over the first 6-7 years of life. Glasses at this stage and without wearing a contact lens would basically magnify an image for him, and likely create a distorted image, rather than giving him a focused image that contacts can. He has lost a year's worth of time of his brain "learning" to see the images the eyes send it. However, with the cataracts removed, he was able to see light, movements and (we think) some shapes, so his brain was at least able to start understanding some of what he was seeing, which was very important.
However! He will eventually wear glasses AND contact lenses! His contact prescription is currently set to give him focused vision up close, since as a toddler his world is mostly based on things being near him. As he gets older, the prescription will eventually change to give him focused vision at a distance, and he will wear bifocals or reading glasses for close up. Because he does not have a natural lens, he will not be able to have multiple focal points like we do (i.e., look at something across the yard and then focus on something on the table in front of him), so this is typically how the issue is addressed.
Implants - yes, there is such a thing as a lens implant, and it is typically done when an adult has cataracts removed, usually during the removal surgery. The difference? In an adult, doctors can create an implant with an accurate prescription for vision. In a young child, it is a "guess-timate" - if they guess wrong, the lens will not provide a clear image and a new implant may be required, or other types of correction needed. However, if a child becomes unable to tolerate the contact lenses (allergies, etc.) then an implant becomes more of an option. Another consideration is that every procedure done to the eyes increases risks for glaucoma, retinal detachment, infection, etc. - so if the contact lenses and glasses are working, many doctors prefer to leave well enough alone and protect the health of the eye as much as possible. (This is a very simplified outline of implants - young babies do receive them, and there are many factors which are considered for each patient - for Lucas the implant is not something we will consider at this point, unless something changes that requires it.)
So now that he has contacts can he see? Ah, the million dollar question! This is also complicated. Removing the cataracts is the first step. Providing "correction" is next. Unfortunately the reality of living in an orphanage means that it is impossible to monitor his eyes 24/7. If you've followed our journey so far, you will know that we have "lost" the lenses many times and been lucky to find them (well, except for 1!) - with us watching him all the time! We constantly watch for him rubbing his eyes, try to check them before he moves to a different space so we can keep track, etc. In his room in the orphanage there were more than 20 babies in the room, and there is no way they could watch him constantly. By early July all the lenses had been lost, which meant until we got there he was once again without corrected vision.
The point? The cataracts are gone and he has correction - but the critical part is now his brain needs to "learn" how to see. Brain develop is the most important piece, because developing those neural pathways is what allows him to know what he is seeing. His actual eyes are only one part of that.
So can he see? According to our visit to the University of Waterloo Pediatric Optometry Clinic before Thanksgiving, the answer is a giant "YES"! We had been communicating with Dr. Jones, a professor in the program there, since March when we first received the referral to consider adopting Lucas. She was extremely helpful in answering our questions and helping us understand the information that we had received. We were VERY excited to find out she would actually take him on as a patient, and that we could get in before Thanksgiving. 2 student optometrists and Dr. Jones spent over an hour examining his eyes, and were basically surprised at how well he is doing given his background. They estimated his vision to be at about 20/100 (20/20 is perfect vision and I think 20/200 is legally blind), so he is well on his way! They were also able to tell us the health of the eye looks good, and that he is using his vision to explore the world around him. They predict he will have fairly functional vision in the future! He will always need ongoing monitoring and glasses/contacts, and he will always be at a higher risk for glaucoma, etc., but at this point they were very optimistic that he will continue to develop his vision and not require blind/low vision supports when he is older.
We still have a long way to go, but needless to say I was about a billion pounds lighter walking out of that appointment with the weight of the world lifted off me! (They also told me to stop looking up stuff on the internet and freaking myself out...). I can't say enough good things about the appointment and how from the time I entered the building every person I met helped direct me to the right spot and made both Lucas and I feel so comfortable and taken care of. We are so thankful that Dr. Jones will continue to see him!
We still have to see the opthamology department at McMaster to look at other aspects of his eye health, such as monitoring his IOL (interocular pressure) and watching for glaucoma, etc. We are not sure yet who will be helping us with his contact lenses in terms of monitoring and updating those, but it is starting to come together.
So a long post to get to this point - he is doing great! He has tough days where his eyes are more light sensitive and watery and those days he likes to be held ALOT and isn't as interactive. But he has days like today where he gave us tons of eye contact, explored lots of toys and spaces, was goofy and laughing, curious and responsive, and happy. So bit by bit his brain is doing the difficult and exhausting work of learning to process everything his eyes are taking in, and we are getting there.
Thanksgiving was quiet for the most part but we had a fantastic time on Thanksgiving Monday with my dad's side of the family ALL together (the Ontario part - missed having the families who are in Saskatchewan and Alberta with us!) for the first time in a while - 19 "little kids", 18 "big kids" and 6 adults - just missing my Grandma Heise who is in a nursing home in Stouffville now and wasn't able to come. It was a gorgeous day and my aunts and cousins did a fantastic job of getting everything set up and decorated. It was potluck with a ton of food of course. The kids all played together, ranging in age from 17 down to Lucas at 1 yr. old, basketball, playground, scavenger hunt, catch, etc. The highlight was trying to corral 19 kids into 1 photo and get them all looking at the same time - a task made slightly more challenging after the screaming and running from some of the ones taking the photos when a large garter snake made its presence known! Here are a couple shots (hopefully my cousins forgive me for posting the pic without getting permission from them!):
My favourite shot of 2 of my nieces, Chantler & Willow, with Maiya:
Lucas with my big brothers, Craig and Breydon:
Our first visit to the pumpkin patch on the weekend with Lucas - right when the sun disappeared, the wind picked up and it was damp and freezing - gave up on trying to get a picture with Lucas actually looking at the camera - he was more interested in the dirt on the ground! Maiya tried so hard though!
Some shots from home - he'll be reading chapter books by Christmas I'm sure!
We were happy to have a visit from some friends from my work and were surprised with some gifts, flowers, a beautiful cake (thanks for the cake Jagoda!) for Lucas.
We got the art work framed for Lucas that we bought in Vietnam and absolutely LOVE the way it turned out. We took the rest of the pieces we bought to get done this weekend so hope they turn out as well (these were the ones we bought in the little alley/shop that was also a motorcycle parking garage - there's a picture of it on an earlier post!).
Lucas also got to spend time with 2 of his great-grandma's on Thanksgiving weekend - GG (Brett's Grandma Myra) and Grandma Alma (my Grandma Watson). Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera! But it was great watching him with them - both Maiya and Lucas are very blessed to have 4 grandparents and 4 great-grandma's in their lives.
We hope to head to McMaster on Thursday and we have a developmental assessment team meeting with us in early November from KidsAbility, a meeting with our CNIB home support worker and the vision family support worker from KidsAbility this week - so lots still coming up!
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