Katrina (22 months old) a few days after her second surgery and Ethan one-month-old
Katrina 10 months old
Katrina the day after her first eye surgery at nine-months-old
Katrina at nine-months-old a day or two before her first surgery - her eyes were in the moderate to severe degree at this point.JPG)
Katrina at nine-months-old pre-surgery
Katrina at seven-months-old with her eye path on her way to Kari's house in the morning
Katrina at three months old - the early days of the diagnosis
Above are some photos of Katrina's journey with her eyes. She was diagnosed with esotropia (crossing of the eyes) at three months of age that was most likely from being premature. The condition was progressive and by the time of her first surgery they were pretty bad. Funny thing is neither Greg nor I remember them as being as bad as the photos show. I couldn't even post some of the "worst" pictures where her eyes are really crossed as I'm still sensitive to people's comments about them. She was always beautiful, but her vision was very limited to just kind of a small bubble around her. I have read before (being an audiologist) that hearing loss is one of the hardest diagnosis for families to cope with as it is essentially "invisible" - the child looks just like any other child, whereas parents of children with cleft palettes and lips accept the diagnosis much easier as it is so visible. I would have to put esotropia in the same group as cleft palettes and lips - when I was showing the kids Katrina's baby pictures one day it took my breathe away to realize how crossed her eyes really were. I don't remember them that way at all.
Tomorrow we head out for her eye appointment. I think her eyes look the best they ever have now. We do eye exercises every other night (she deliberately crosses her eyes ten times - brings back memories every time she does it and all I can think of is what a beautiful baby she was). Grammy Sue will be staying with Ethan so it will just be a girls' road trip!
5 comments:
Ohhhh ... the wonderful memories of sweet baby Katrina just flood back when I look at these photos. I don't remember her eyes being that severe either - she was simply lovely Katrina to me.
I had no idea she had this condition, you would never know it now by looking at her. And those are the cutest baby cheeks EVER!!! She was a beauty and of course she still is!
she is a beauty! this is such a great and heartfelt post!
Thank you for your kind words - Katrina kind of "drop-kicked" us into parenting and all the heartache it can provide by being early and then having her eye issues right off the bat. She is just my little angel!
This post touched my heart, Julie. She's just so beautiful in the photos. What a doll! I am glad she is doing so well with her eyesite! yay!!
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