Thankful Thursdays

When I first started writing this blog I used to occasionally do a post on Thursdays called Thankful Thursdays.  I haven't done one in quite some time, but I really felt the need to do so today.  I have so much to be thankful for right now.  Back in July, I took all of the kids with me to get an eye exam.  Being homeschoolers, we don't get the regular routine exams that they do in school each year.  The only type of exam they had ever had was at the pediatrician's office.  Well, it was at this appointment that we discovered that Ryan had some sort of problem with his vision. Since that time we've been to two specialists including a pediatric neurologist, and yesterday a pediatric opthamologist.  We finally have an answer!

Ryan has a condition called amblyopia.  His eye sight in his right eye is so bad he's just about legally blind in it.  Apparently, the eye wasn't correctly alligned and it caused his vision to be doubled.  His brain compensated by only using the good eye thereby causing the bad eye's muscle's and nerves in his brain to atrophy.  We're not sure how long he's had this problem, but from the extent of the damage, it may have been since birth.  The sad thing is that we never knew.  If it had been caught when he was 2 or 3 it would have been easily corrected and most likely would have resulted in a complete recovery.  However, because he's 7 now, they're not sure if it will improve.  Apparently, the small window of possible recovery closes at 8 to 9 years old.  His recovery (if he has any) will be longer and more difficult because of his age.  So...how does his eye recover you ask?  He has to wear a patch over his good eye for 12 hours every day.

Needless to say that he hates it!  He cried and cried, and literally begged me for hours to let him take it off.  It just breaks my heart to be mean and say no.  But, its the only hope he has of recovery.  We've also ordered glasses for him to protect his eyes, and he has a patch that fits over the lens to block out sight in that eye completely.  Hopefully he'll like that better than the patch.  The idea is that by blocking out the good eye, his bad eye will be forced to strengthen, and the nerves will come back to life.  That's the plan, but we won't know for sure if it will work for quite some time.  I feel so bad for him.  I wear contacts and can't see much of anything without them.  I can't imagine if somebody took them away, and then covered one eye and made me stay that way for 12 hours.  I just pray that this works and he adjusts quickly.

So today, I'm thankful that he's healthy and well, and that its not something more serious.  If the worst is that he'll never be able to see correctly out of one eye, I can handle that.  There are so many people out there dealing with horrible, life threatening conditions in their children, that I feel truly blessed that this was something non-life threatening and maybe, just maybe its correctable.  Praise be to God!

On a lighter note, check out this caterpillar that the kids found on our sidewalk.  Can you say bad hair day!

Oh, and here's something I bet you've never seen before.  If I hadn't seen this happen, I never would have guessed what it was.  Can you figure it out?

Yep, that's 100% genuine caterpillar poop!  You saw it here first!!  Now to just figure out what kind of critter he is.  So, keep Ryan in your prayers and be sure to leave me a comment to let me know what you're family is thankful for.