Our Journey with Ptosis: Part III

It's been a while since I wrote anything about Yoav's ptosis - mainly because there's been nothing to write home about. Until today.

For the last year, we sent Yoav to the most amazing ophthalmologist in metro Detroit. Her brother happens to also be a good friend of mine. Her husband's family is close with my family, as well. She knows my siblings and their friends, too. Aside from that, her reputation as a doctor is why we chose to see her. Dr. Leemor Rotberg of Children's Eye Care. She's been there from the moment we came off the plane until now. We could not be more thrilled with her as a doctor.

Still, today we came to the hard decision that we knew was coming. My sweet and precocious little boy needs eye surgery. His time has come and we knew this day was coming - we're finally out of limbo.

Dr. Rotberg was amazing and explained aspects of his surgery that we never really thought to ask - like the fact that he's going to look fairly beat up for a while. After surgery, his eye isn't going to close properly for some time. He may have a scar. This is all superficial stuff until you think about the fact that his eye being open all the time could mean he's more susceptible to infection. He's not even two yet, so he might scratch at his face because it itches when it heals. There are lots of things to consider.

Still, it's time and knowing that he'll be in great hands doesn't mean I worry any less. There are quite a few websites out there that document what it'll look like after surgery - we're going to become one of those sites/blogs.

The jaw winking syndrome is why his eye is open here.

Yoav has Marcus Gunn Jaw Winking Syndrome - which created his ptosis. The ptosis is causing his vision to deteriorate. We tried patching and it worked for about a year until he decided he no longer wanted his eye patched. Once the patch came off, his vision regressed. Awesome, right? The surgery is being done to counteract the regression and to help him see.

Once the surgery is done, there will likely be no trips to Target for a while but we may make an exception and take him to Toys R Us to get some toys. He's going to need some giant sunglasses so people don't think we harm our son and his mom is going to need some company for the first few days after his surgery.