The Results...

For those of you wondering, we thought it would be good to fill you in on the eye exam last week and the dental work yesterday.

First, the eye exam went well. Rebekah didn't cooperate perfectly, but she did cooperate enough. Her left eye (the one on the side affected by the radiation) is stable - it hasn't really changed since April when we started using the eye patch with a concern that she had a lazy eye and that is why the left eye is weaker than the right. There are a few possibilities - lazy eye (which can be treated with the eye patch) or damage from the radiation (clouding of the lens which could be the beginning of cataracts) are the big ones. She doesn't have cataracts now, so there is nothing to do for that right now - if she gets them (which our radiation oncologist said was a good likelihood) then she'll need them removed. She sees at 20/40 in the left eye, so it isn't horrible. Aside from correcting the vision (with glasses) and removing cataracts there isn't a lot we can do if it is damage to the eye from radiation.

Meanwhile, we keep doing the patching aiming at 3 hours each day and see her in 4 months. We also continue to do put the gel in at night and drops during the day. If we see any signs of infection or changes to the eye, then we come in sooner.

The radiation oncologist told us that she would likely be blind in the left eye and possibly the right. In the absolute best case, she would probably have cataracts that would need removed. So far, we consider ourselves pretty lucky. Thank you God!

Now for the dental work... The expectation was that Rebekah would be sedated (with a full general anesthesia (including intubation - tube in her throat helping her to breathe) and have two cavities to fill (both on the left side - thanks again to the radiation). Once they had her sedated, they would do bitewings to really see the teeth and see how many cavities there were, so it might be more than two. While she was sedated, they would get a good cleaning on the teeth and put sealants on as many of the teeth as they could. That was the plan.

Once they did the bitewings, there was only one cavity that needed filled. Woohoo! Dr. Wilson was able to get sealants on all the teeth she wanted and in general she said Rebekah's teeth looked really good. We've apparently been doing a remarkable job of keeping them clean. I think God must have had something to do with that. We had months where I couldn't even get a toothbrush near Rebekah's mouth and I'm lucky if I can get a quick once over on all her teeth (it is nowhere near 2 minutes) once a day and some flossing. I feel like I haven't done that good of a job, but I have done the best that I reasonably could.

Rebekah's mouth continues to hurt, but the tylenol or motrin seems to be helping. She is a bit wobbly today and I'm not sure if it is because of the anesthesia yesterday or because of the fluid in her left ear. We're trying to have a lower key day.

Next Monday we have a busy day. Thankfully Grandma A will be watching Sarah, so it will just be Mommy and Rebekah running everywhere - Speech Therapy at 9:00, Speech Therapy (with her device) at 11:00, Dentist follow up at 1:00, Hearing test at 2:40 and ENT at 3:15. What a day that will be! With the hearing test and ENT appointment we will see how the radiation has damaged her ear. She's had fluid on it for over a month now. She may need a tube put in. We'll have to see what they say.

Please pray that we continue to have healthy eyes, healthy teeth and that we are able to get some good answers on the ear issues. Praise God for all the ways He has protected Rebekah so far. We have seen it time and time again. Thank you God!