Princess Poppy and her Journey with a Congenital Cataract: Another trip to London

This week we had our appointment at Kings College. Poppy was an absolute star and sat still (most of the time!) when the doctors needed to examine her! They concluded that the scar tissue/opacification at the back of the eye that we believed was border line needing surgery was in fact not that bad. The doctor said that he could see a good red reflex and so no treatment would be needed on that at the moment - great news, if a little confusing! He did however say that he wanted her to have surgery to correct the turn soon. It is getting worse and while I dread further surgery I am also quite eager for her to have it done as it should really help that eye develop better vision. I feel that at the moment the only time it is really working is when she is patched - which is only 3-4 hours a day. So the doctor said he would write to our local hospital and see if the surgery can be done there and if not then we will go back to London. I have since had time to think and discuss with DH and we have come to the conclusion that going back to London has got to be the best thing to do. we trust the doctors there, we know they have the experience and expertise. So I have been on the phone chasing them about this, eventually having to leave an e-mail that they will hopefully respond to on Monday. Aside form that Poppy is doing great. She is growing in confidence with her walking every day now and her speech is coming along. When I put her shoes and coat on before we go out she starts saying, "Bye" over and over, so cute! The patching is still a daily struggle for us all. We still have to use the arm splints or she will just pull the patch off. She has got wise to this now though and is managing to slip the arm splints off, then the patch and leave them hidden in a corner of a room (along with her glasses) while she goes on her merry way playing with toys! It is frustrating and upsetting and it is so easy to want to give up with the patches...but we know just how much good they are doing her eye...we have no choice but to soldier on.

These are a few pictures taken over the last six months:

This picture shows what we used to do before we got the arm splints - we tied her sleeves or put on scratch mitts or socks. This worked okay for a while but she struggled to crawl or pick any toys up so she got very frustrated with it quite quickly. So far the arm splints have been what has worked best for us as she is still able to crawl/walk, pick up toys with them on. The only thing she cannot do is get anything in her mouth so we take them off for breakfast and lunch and just have to sit and watch her constantly!

Her first pair of shoes!