Patching continues...surgery on hold

Today was our follow up visit for Andrew with the pediatric opthamologist. I would be lying if I said I am not completely shocked at the results of our visit today. I was so sure that Andrew had regained most of his vision as he seems to function so well with his eye patched...even riding his bike "no fast, Mom!" as he whizzes by me. I must admit that I am taking this really hard because he has had little to no improvement and we have been so diligent to patch everyday except for 2-3 times in the entire 2 months as well as keeping in the 8hr+ range a day. Dr. Coats is now recommending another 2 months of patching only now it is every waking hour. This breaks my heart as he was so ready to have no more patches and since we were so shocked we had ill prepared him for this possibility(nor did we know of this possibility-thought surgery was imminent). He is a trooper though and willingly has resumed patch wearing. For now we have been advised to schedule surgery again in 2 months following his next follow up appt. and that if no improvement is made we will move to a chemical blurring of the good eye to force use of the weaker eye. Dr. Coats said that for some reason when a patient doesn't respond to patching sometimes they will to the drops and vice versa. We are trusting the Lord to give us wisdom in all of these matters to make the best decisions regarding Andrew's health. Perhaps like many things simply more time is needed for his body to heal. Everyday he is getting stronger and healthier with good nutrition so I have to think there are additional factors in his vision improving.

Dr. Coats has given us a few other options to work with Andrew on over the course of the next two months that I am going to check out and see. Dr. Coats assured us that even with his current vision he would still be eligible for a driver's license which was something I had not even thought about. He is not giving us glasses as an option as it seems to be a brain to eye issue. I have some researching to do and hopefully will have more to post soon.