The Daily Hailey

A couple of days ago, I asked for help from my readers. We are seeing two ophthalmologists for Dekker, and need to decide which route to take. I read all the comments, private messages, and texts. As I was fairly clear about in that post, our decision was made already to see the doctor we had sought out for a second opinion. I was primarily tossed up on taking Dekker back to his first doctor at all. After reading everyones thoughts on the matter, Brady and I decided to go see Dr. Rubab again and see if she had similar findings. We did lots of research, thinking, and a lot of praying. We forget to pray about the big stuff around here sometime, but speaking for myself, I prayed a lot. I prayed for peace, and wisdom. I want to be able to be 100% confident in whatever decision we make regarding Dekker’s health. So we prayed, and decided to go to our appointment this afternoon.

We arrived in the waiting room exactly on time for our appointment, and I didn’t even have time to fill out the form they asked for before we were called in to the testing section of the appointment. Our previous two appointments there, we had seen a student for the tests. She was good at her job, but a bit impatient and stern. The woman we saw today was very warm with Dekker. He responded beautifully to her, and became very talkative and interactive early on in the appointment. She talked with Brady and I during the tests as well and kept us very much in the loop of what she was doing and finding. She spent lots of time with us and at the end, gave us the opportunity to ask questions. I was so relieved!! I pulled out my list, as per usual (lol), and asked a few. She answered my questions with information that I hadn’t known, which I always enjoy! We talked about possibly bumping Dekker’s prescription first, among a few other things. She assured us “Dr. Rubab is a confident and competent surgeon, but she is cautious. She will exhaust all other options first.” I liked hearing that, and felt much better having been able to ask my questions. Then, she put the drops in Dekker’s eyes to get them started dilating. In previous appointments, we had to wait to see Dr. Rubab, then she’d put the drops in, then we’d have to wait at least a half hour, and then go back in for more tests. So this was a much better set up. Dekker cried and said “Stop! Stop!” over and over again. But guys, if you’ve heard him say “stop” before, its super cute, and it actually lightened the mood.

Deks was very patient and calm while we waited in the waiting room for that half hour. He sat on Brady’s lap for a while and ate a banana, but then asked to go play toys! I was happy he was confident enough to go play on his own. We waited almost exactly one half hour before Dr. Rubab called us into her room. She didn’t seem put off by us bringing Laela as I had been under the impression she is sometimes. I felt like she softened up a bit, more than anything. She ran Dekker’s tests, and kept cool when he started squirming and fussing. It was, after all, around 3:00 or 3:30, and he hadn’t gotten a nap in. And his eyes were blurry. She confirmed what Dr. E’s office had said – his eyes are almost exactly the same! She said they likely are exactly the same strength, but he is still favoring the right eye. The two offices really did find the same things. His vision is great, but the alignment needs some help. When the tests were all done, she asked Brady to come sit next to me. Then she came and say right in front of us and, very intentionally face to face, went over surgery. We talked about everything. She explained in layman’s terms basically what would happen. Where the incision would be, what it would look like, how long recovery would be, etc. We talked about the risks and benefits of having the surgery at this point versus waiting a year or two. We talked about statistics and percentages and possibilities that things could go wrong, or just not go perfect. Under correction, over correction, perfect correction, re correction. We covered it all, and she was crystal clear.

I have to make a new paragraph for this 🙂 Guys, my little boy only needs to wear a patch for one hour per day. One hour. I cried. That was easily my favorite thing we talked about. There has been that much improvement that he only has to wear it for such a short period of time, and if he goes through a successful surgery, the patching might be over. My heart is light.

Brady and I felt warm leaving the office. We had gone into the appointment with the plan to leave Dr. R for Dr. E. Our minds were made up. We were attending this appointment as a formality only. Yet, we had been praying. And everything at this appointment reminded us of why we loved her so much the first time around. I feel peace there. 100% peace. If I didn’t feel that way, we would have done what we had originally planned to do, and walked out of there for the last time. But we know that this is the doctor to trust with our sons health. Feel free to agree or disagree, but we are confident.

So today, I signed a form and gave my permission to put Dekker on a surgery list. She is aiming for January. We are looking forward to Dekker having a bit of a break until then. A break from his patching, from doctors, from eye drops, from frustration really. We’ll have Christmas, lots of family time, and in the new year, we’ll have a whole new adventure.

My family is happy this evening. I never thought I would feel this refreshed after today. I have no doubt in my mind that we are making the right choice. God is good.