Eye appointments for Will

Will had his vision appointment at the University of Minnesota clinic on Friday. It was very thorough and had some good news as a result.
He does not need glasses because his eyes have good vision! The doctor said that he might need glasses in the future for nearsightedness, but nothing at present. His optic nerve is excellent and so is the health of his eyes. Some things that we knew are, that he cannot move his eyes from side to side so it's hard for him to track. She said that there isn't a surgery that can correct that since it is the nerves that control the muscles that are affected. He also crosses his eyes a lot and they still rotate upward, but she also would not do any surgery to correct the eye muscles at this time, she would like to see how they improve over the next months and check him again in September. Another good thing is that his eyes do have feeling, so he can feel wind or other things and blink to protect them. Although he doesn't blink as much as you or I, he'll use lubricant drops when he's sleeping to protect his eyes.
He's still trying to get better head control, so with his head bobbing, it's sometimes hard for him to also focus his eyes, but he's getting better. He saw the toys hanging on his car seat and started to giggle. He has a new exercise toy now to help him gain strength in his neck and more control of his arms.
On Wednesday we return to the U of MN clinic for an MRI of his head and an EMG, which tests the muscles in his face. It'll be done while he is sedated. After this week, we hope to have a break from hours in the car seat, although he's a trooper when it comes to travel!
The pictures are of Will's shoes, and a couple of him on his new toy. It was hot today here, so he's chilling without his shoes or clothes.

Another medical month for Will.

Here are a few pictures of Will. He is now 4 months old! I can't believe how big he is getting. He has doubled his wt. since he came to MN and you can see how tall he is becoming also. He can hold his head up for a little bit, but if he sits in his new bumbo chair, he needs some help with holding his head up for a while. He has been wearing his new shoes with the bar for a couple of weeks now and does well with it.


We have a busy few weeks ahead of us again. We have to go to Minneapolis tonight because he has an audiology test at the University tomorrow. I'm going to have to keep him up in the early morning so that he falls asleep during the testing. Not fun for either of us.
Then next week Friday we have to be at the University ped. clinic again to have an in-depth vision test, 4 hours long I'm told. I am quite eager to see how that turns out. He still cannot track with his eyes and they will often cross or roll up, but we see that when we are close to him, he does focus in on our faces. His last big testing for a while will be his MRI and EMG (testing the muscles in his face) under sedation, again at the University pediatric MRI center on May 26. I eager to hear the results of that also. It's his pediatric neurologist who has requested all these tests because with no facial movement, the nerves that control his facial muscles are close to the nerves for his hearing and vision. Still praying that this will all show that he has a bright future. He's definitely a "baby magnet", everywhere he goes he draws complete strangers in to 'talk' to him; medical staff and even the shoppers at the grocery store.

****Update****

Will had his hearing test and passed with flying colors!!! We are SO thankful that this is not another hurdle he will have to go over. Praise God!