I am so excited....and so thankful for an answer to prayer! Thomas has some vision in his left eye without his glasses!

I put his patch on the day before yesterday and he said "mommy, I can see!" I tested him by taking him to our homeschool board and asked him to identify letters and colors and he was SPOT ON!

I just tested him again and sure enough, he could identify letters and colors.

I cannot tell you how it broke my heart to hear that my little boys brain was not "talking" to his left eye. Well, apparently his brain and eye are on speaking terms now! God is so good...I am so thankful! \o/

Thomas had his 8 week check-up yesterday. I am so thankful to report that with his glasses, Thomas is seeing 20/40 through his weak (left) eye!

There was a huge difference in Ms. Gina's (the person who administers the test before we see the doctor) demeanor as she was having Thomas answer this question or that question to to test his vision. Last time she was quiet and almost grave, this time she just chatted up a storm. I was watching Thomas as he looked at the TV and identified the letters on the screen as they got smaller and smaller, I became more and more teary. Even as a layperson I could tell that Thomas has vision in his weaker eye (albeit with the help of his glasses).

Our Ophthalmologist was very encouraging. We are to continue patch therapy and go back in 8 weeks to see if Thomas' vision is continuing to improve. It's become a tradition to go out for lunch and then to the Chocolate Bar for dessert whenever we have his eye's checked...fun times!

She did say that she preferred the sticker patches instead of the cloth ones. Thomas HATES the sticker patches but Ms Gina and a reader (thank you Amy!) suggested putting milk of magnesia or pepto bismol around the sticker area, letting it dry and then putting the patch on. It is supposed to lessen the irritation. I can't stand the smell of pepto bismol so we will give the milk of magnesia a shot.

So we press on...keep patching and thanking God for the improvement. So thankful!

Today I experienced a little "twist" in my heart...we have started homeschooling Thomas and he started writing today. Yesterday we had a practice run at the writing thing and it was made clear that Thomas needs his good eye when he writes.

Sooo...no more patching first thing in the morning as we homeschool right after breakfast. I told Thomas last night that he would be wearing his patch when we went to church this morning for a meeting and out running errands. Note that we have never made a big deal about patching (he gets a prize from the "patch prize" box each day). Thomas said "no mommy...I don't want to patch when we go out, that would be silly, people don't want to see my patch."

It just broke my heart...thankfully just a few people at church saw him (he was wearing his very cool "hero" patch) and no one said a word. I was so thankful. It just made me sad that he was self conscious about it since we had never made a big deal of the patching.

I am anxiously waiting for the 20th when we will go back to our ophthalmologist for a check-up...please be praying for a great report!

One week of patching and Thomas is just now beginning to complain about it (I don't wanna patch mommy")...bless his heart. We are using the sticky patches because he will peek through the others. Thomas complains when taking them off and I can see a little irritation on his skin. We are going to have to work on taking them off a little slower...hard to do with an active little guy but so far so good.

It is clear that Thomas cannot see out of his left eye unless he is wearing his glasses. He does have vision when wearing his glasses which gives me a lot of hope. I am looking forward to his ophthalmologist appointment next month to see what she can see and to move forward with his treatment. His appointment is on my birthday so I think that warrants a trip to the "Chocolate Bar"!

Thomas asked to patch yesterday as he knew we had a "patch box" (small toys and candy) and that he could have "Nintendo time". He was a CHAMP! We went on a walk and he stumbled once but other than that he did great.

This morning, he "patched" for two hours with ease and NO COMPLAINING...can I get an AMEN?

I know we are early in the game with patching but I am choosing to believe that he will do great!

Thomas wanted to try a patch on today so we gave it a shot...he only wore it for about 10 minutes and he kept saying "Mommy, I can't see you." Mercy that made me so sad. Regardless, we will press on and start patching on Monday as the doctor suggested.

Thomas was very happy to get his reward for patching...I may be on to something. :)

Pleasantly surprised and so pleased...

Thomas has been wearing his glasses for 6 days now and is doing such a good job. I would be REALLY happy if he would quit touching the lenses of his glasses...they get smudged and he will say "I can't see" and the easily panicked side of me will think something terrible has happened and all it is is a big smudge on the lenses. The little stinker!

Oddly enough I am getting used to seeing him in his glasses already. Last night he had them off for a while and he looked sooo "different."

So far so good...praise God! Patching starts on Monday!