Today we had our first visit with the opthalmologist. The eye doctor is Dr. Barron. He is very nice and very smart. He did a complete examination, including an eye test and putting drops in Karim's eyes. Karim was very brave. What he said is that Karim has a lot of scarring on his cornea, or the ocular surface, from the disease. The tearing is impaired as are the mucosal tissues. As a result of the disease, the eyelids are turned out (down), which also prevents the tears from traveling to the ducts in the center part of the eyes by the nose, where they are supposed to drain into the nose. This turning out also prevents him from closing his eyes completely.
The eyelids are ectropion, or turned out. The lid mechanics are not appropriate, therefore making him susceptible to bad infections on the surface of the eyes. Luckily, this has not gone farther than the surface of the eyes and has not yet affected his vision. The inside of the eyes looked good. He sees 20/30 in both eyes, which is good. Without treatment, this condition would absolutely develop into blindness. The dryness of his eyes explains why he is always itching his eyes. They are uncomfortable.
Dr. Barron said that the most important and imperative treatment right now is lubrication of the eyes. He must have drops put into his eyes every hour and also at bedtime. He gave us several types of drops to try. The thicker the eye drop, the better, but the thicker it is, the more it makes his vision blurry at least temporarily. But, these eye drops are a must! The absolute best drop he can get is called Genteal Gel, of which he did not have a sample. He said it is very expensive. But, we will try to procure this because it is the best. For now, we will use the samples up. We have an appointment scheduled in three weeks for a follow-up exam.
On the fun side, we went to the zoo this morning. It was nice weather and a fun time. Karim especially liked the monkeys. They are fun to watch. Afterwards, we went to lunch at Panera Bread, a very good restaurant. I picked out their food. I chose half a turkey and cheese sandwich and a bowl of broccoli cheese soup. Ebtisam really liked the food. Karim liked the soup and the sandwich. The sandwich was hard for him to eat because it was so thick. We laughed at him trying, though. I took the picture of him trying to eat the sandwich. He drank Pepsi as usual. He likes Pepsi, not Coke!!
After the doctor appointment I left them at Ellen's house. I was very sad and almost in tears leaving them. I feel like a protective mother, not wanting to leave them, but I must go with my family away for the weekend for my nephew's wedding. We hugged and kissed good-bye and they said they loved and would miss "Mama Liz." Once again, I thank my God for lending them to me for a while. I will worry about them a lot while we are away. I already cannot wait to be united with them again on Sunday.
