Today Rayleigh saw a pediatric neuro opthomologist. In short, his job is to link any eye problems to neurological issues. There are only a couple in our state so we have had this in our calendar for a while now. Previously, we had been excited and ready for the day to arrive, but all this week I just got more and more nervous! You just never want anything to be wrong with your child, and on the flip side, you also want to be able to fix whatever is wrong!
So we get there and the technician takes us back to the exam room and asks a few questions (was she full term?, what concerns do you have?, etc) and she starts some small tests on Bug. For instance, she has a rectangular board that is half painted solid gray and the other half has black and white contrast stripes. Rayleigh Bug had just woken up from a nap and wasn't participating in this at all. Then the technician pulls out this large spinning wheel and the entire thing is black and white stripes. Bug would look at it and look away. I started getting nervous again for my baby girl :(
Then Dr. Mike comes in and does the same tests and uses a light also. Then he and a nurse get some drops in Bug's eyes to dilate them. After about 20 minutes her eyes are dilated and we go back to the exam room to see Dr. Mike. He looks in her eyes with a light and he held little glasses lenses up to her eyes.
Dr. Mike finishes with Bug and we soothe her and Dr. Mike lets us know that she has a slight astigmatism that he prescribed glasses for her to wear only a couple of hours a day to help correct that over time.
Then he lets us know that Rayleigh's vision issues derive from her seizure activity. They are starting in the focal region of her brain causing delays in vision. He is confident that she will improve a lot if/when we can get her seizures under control.
She has Cortical Vision Impairment (CVI).
Her eyes are just fine, it's just the part of the brain that reads what she sees that is having the issue. This is good and bad news. Good, because there's nothing REALLY WRONG with her but bad because this isn't just something we can fix.
We'll have to work even more with Rayleigh when it comes to looking at us and things around her. A lot of high contrast is great for her. I should try and get her to notice me and track toys without making noise to follow or let her know where I am.
We go back for a check-up with Dr. Mike in 6 months. He said he will be very surprised if her vision hasn't improved by then!
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