Trek's Tender Eyes

Okay, even though I am a little on the sleep deprived side, I thought I would start documenting and letting everyone know what happened and how our little guy is doing. This may be multiple blogs just to divide things up and so you may need to really scroll down to read all of it. However, this is in reverse order in that the most recent things are actually more towards the bottom. Also, please feel free to comment with questions or send us an e-mail. Alright, so the story begins.

As some of you may or may not know the little Trekster has had an issue with sunlight, bright light and outside in general for some time now. I would say upwards of about 2-3 months. Poor thing would always look straight down and even keep his eyes closed when we were outside. Even when he was in the shade he would not look out to where it was bright as even that bothered him. His eyes would water and he would keep his head down and be a little irritated or frustrated with being out there. Then once you come inside he turns into a completely different little boy. So you may ask did the doctor say anything about this. Well we would always bring this up and say that he seemed to have one eye that watered a lot. So the doctor said it was most likely a plugged tear duct and that it would go away. At his 6 month appt, Heather was persistent and knew there was something really wrong. The doc suggested we see a pediatric ophthalmologist and so this is where the whirlwind really began.


So Friday morning we went in to see Dr. Ballard. The nurse came in and played all kind of games and tricks with Trek that he loved and she checked him as having a clean bill of health. Then the sprays in his eyes and drops started. Let’s just say that our normally very content little boy was no longer content. Even despite the really multiple long waits in the waiting room. Then the doctor came in and wanted to check the pressure in his eyes. So I had to hold my son down ad hold his arms down and his head still while the doctor held his eyes pried open and began sticking things into his eye. What a tough one that was. I have never heard my little guy scream like that ever before. It felt like someone was drilling a hole in my heart. Then Heather was also in the corner only half looking on and really crying pretty well herself. What a tough thing for a mother to see.

The doctor then began to tell us that he thought Trek had Congenital Glaucoma, and he started talking about membranes and corneas and all kinds of other things, and after this traumatic experience of which I was still trying to console my little boy, I was really struggling to even hear every other word of what he was talking about. So he said he would like to suggest we see a doctor at the UofM and he was even going to have us wait in the waiting room to see if he could get a hold of him right away. Now this seemed odd to me that he would not just ask us to contact him and make an appt., but again I was still only half there still thinking about my little boys screams which seemed to say dad why are you doing this to me and why are you letting these people do this. So I asked him to write down a couple things and I thought I would consult the ever so smart and famous Google when I got home.

We then stopped at Milios for a quick bite to eat and ran into my good friend Matt who was having his lunch break as well. This proved to be really great as Matt and his wife Julie were really great to us in the following 24 hrs or so. Upon getting home Trek was obviously very tired out and I was checking in at work as I did not want to go back into work after such a big deal and I wanted to of course get started as soon as possible talking to my friend Google. Heather and I talked and decided that since the Dr. at the UofM, Dr Bothun, had already called looking for us, that we would consult the insurance company to first see if this new Dr. was covered. We then thought we would try and make a 2nd opinion appt. somewhere and then also call Bothun and to have that scheduled in the meantime. I was a little overwhelmed with what I found while reading online and I will come to that very shortly. So I decided to go for a quick ride, as I was thinking about possibly doing a race on Saturday as I had someone ask me to partner up with them for a Time Trial race. Of course I kept my phone close by to answer should my wife need anything. Then while I was riding the phone did ring and it was Heather. Apparently, before we could call Dr. Bothun back, he had already called us. Now this was about 4pm and he says to Heather that he normally heads out about 4 but will stay as late as it takes to get in that day and see him. So I am riding harder than I have in a long time to get home, change, and reduce some sweating and then head to the UofM. Now I am starting to get a little nervous and really starting to seek God, as it must be pretty serious if this guy wants to still see us that day.


So we go in and a resident that was leaving sees us coming into an empty building and helps us get to Dr. Bothun. He also helps to get the questioning process started and he then stays as well through the exam. So again we go through another exam. However, I like this guy much better as he is much quicker and you can tell he has been doing this a lot. However, rather than using his hands, he has this small little clamp like device that holds open the eye by placing a side of it under each lid. So I ask Heather to look away as this would be even harder to probably see. Yep I was right, and so once again Trek is swaddled tight with his arms down and they again put numbing drops in his eyes and start looking at them. After this very quick look, he turns to us and says I am sorry but I have to confirm that he does in fact have glaucoma and then begins to sit down and really explain it to us as the procedure and even draws us a diagram of what he is talking about.
Okay so now I will explain a little bit about it. You can also obviously consult my friend Google as well if you would like more info, remember that some of it is good and some not so much. Oh before that, one thing I forgot. One of the symptoms of this is that the babies eyes can get very big as they stretch due to pressure which again I am about to talk about. So they kept asking us if we thought his eyes were so big. Yeah, think about that question. How do you answer that? I mean compared to what? I think all baby’s eyes are big and when people say wow what big eyes he has you take that as a compliment like, wow your baby is so cute.