Pray for my son, please

I was at the kitchen door when I saw my son trying to pour out a glass of juice. He’d never done that before. So I grabbed my camera and clicked. He turned around and beamed. I took another picture. He ran over to see it, smiled, and left to watch TV. I looked at the photograph in the viewer and my heart sank. His right pupil was reflecting not a red eye, but a golden one – called a ‘tiger eye.’ It told me the leakage behind his retina had not been entirely absorbed. He would probably need some more treatment.

Everybody says my son has big, sparkling, laughing eyes. He also has Coats Disease in his right eye. Abnormal blood vessels form behind the retina and begin to leak. The cholesterol in the blood settles in the space behind the retina. When too much of this collects in one place, it can detach the retina, causing blindness. In rare cases, the eye has to be removed. Coats is rare, genetic, but not hereditary. The cause is unknown, but it usually affects only one eye.

The best thing is for the leakage to stop. He will need frequent eye check ups for the rest of his life. I am grateful it is nothing worse, but I worry. People have beaten Coats and in some cases, it has reversed itself. I want that for my son. I want him to be healthy and to beat this thing. But when such unexpected reminders pop up, I can hardly stave off the panic.

I need to call the doctor and fix an appointment for early next week. That's when we were asked to come. And while I know that he may need more laser - hopefully no more cryo - something inside me is trying to put off making that appointment. It's stupid of me because even if he does need laser, we'd like to finish it off as soon as possible so that he can recover and attend an arts camp starting the 8th of April.

Keeping my fingers crossed and praying that everything goes right.

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Thank You, Almighty

This morning (Monday, December 24, 2007) we took our son to the doctor for his eye check-up. I have been waiting breathlessly and simultaneously dreading the visit. It was the day we would know whether or not the second round of cryotherapy worked. The little tyke hates these visits and I don't blame him. A hyperactive 6-year-old having to to sit with his eyes closed for nearly an hour is torture. Anyway, we somehow managed that with stories and "fact-stories" and occasional pick-me-up-and-carry-me-around requests.

Then it was time for us to go in. This doctor is a rather to-the-point kind of fellow. So he carried out his examination and with the same deadpan expression, proceeded to look at each and every page of the kid's hospital record. And we waited...and waited...and waited. I was sure my heart was about to fall right out of my mouth when he finally spoke: "Well, it is stable." The best four words I've ever heard.

We then asked questions to get some more details. Turns out that there has been no fresh leakage over the past 2 months, which means the condition has "stabilized." And then the doctor said something even more heartening. "If it stays this way, we can leave it as it is. The exudates (leakage) will get absorbed over time or we can do some laser to get rid of it."

I sat there gaping at him. I know I did. I couldn't speak and I couldn't gulp.

The kid's next check-up is in March to see if it he condition remains stable. My understanding is that if the second round of cryopexy worked, then he has a good chance at beating this thing altogether. Of course, the other doctor's words still haunt me: Be prepared for multiple treatments.

I am prepared, but today's results were God's doing and I thank the Almighty like I have never thanked Him before.

PS: Ever since I was around 8 years old, I've always had this "great expectation" feeling around Christmas. It's weird because we're not Christians, so the feeling that the day was somehow significant seemed baseless. Over the years, I learned to put it down to the whole commercialization of expecting a gift and doing up a Christmas tree and whatnot. (Score one for the Americanization of the world, etc.) Today, that void was filled...and how! It was the best Christmas gift I could have ever hoped for. So once again, thank you, God.

(Originally posted on Monday, December 24, 2007 on an earlier blog, now deleted.)