Yesterday we drove through a snow storm resembling the planet Hoth to make it to Elisabeth's eye appointment in Spokane. She hadn't seen Dr. Snow since November 20th when he diagnosed the cortical blindness. At that time he was hoping to see improvement telling us that often times the brain will re-route functions to to healthier areas of the brain. He decided to have us come every few months to monitor progress.
Unfortunatley, yesterdays visit showed no improvement. I think he was nervous about "breaking" the news to us. I am sure it must not be easy to tell parents of a young baby that their child will always be blind. But we had kind of figured so much already. He sweetly told Elisabeth, "Sorry Pumpkin, I just don't think those eyes are going to get any better".
He is sending a letter to the Washington State Department of Services for the Blind regarding Elisabeth. He thinks that we should get involved with them ASAP for help and support with raising a blind child.
Surprisingly, Donald and I found this final diagnoses to be somewhat of a relief. It seems that ever since the pregnancy everything has been "maybe" or "we'll see what happens" or "we just don't know". It's comforting to finally have something confirmed so that we can start moving forward.
I recently had the opportunity, through the National Federation of the Blind, to get in touch with a local woman who has been blind for the past 6 years. Here is something she told me in an email that really made an impression on me, "I had many years of viewing blindness as a terrible loss and tragedy before I learned the truth. With proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to nothing more than a bother."
