October Panda

The month of October had been a main focus of Panda's for a while. With much anticipation he explained to basically everybody (the man standing in line behind us at Walgreens, Ladybug's swim instructor, etc.) that it is the magic month in which he

a. gets to go to a beach house and
b. gets glasses.

Chances are that if you ran into us at any point, you too have gotten this speech from our sweet Panda. Apparently there is nothing more exciting in the world than those two events!

The first weekend in October we rented a beach house. Ya'll, if I were born to a different life, I would have been a beach bum.  I would have enjoyed the sound of the rolling waves and gazed at the sky meeting the ocean on the horizon and may have actually been incredibly chill. (Okay, maybe that's too far.) I would unapologetically have had leathery, wrinkly skin from being out in the sun all day. It would have been fantastic. But alas, our Ladybug has heat-induced seizures, and so we spend the summer months hiding from the hot Texas sun. But the minute we begin to sense that autumn is creeping in, to the beach we go!

I made the mistake of telling Panda about this trip months ago. Each morning I heard the inevitable question, "We going to beach house??!" Not yet. In October. Every single time we walked out of the door, he assumed that's where we were heading. "Hey Mom! We going to beach house??" No, little guy. It is only August. He would insist that's where The Duke went each morning instead of work. He'd cheer loudly for his dad, and then beg to join him. Mom, you can't rain on my parade with your fancy "dates." I'm pretty sure we are heading to the beach house right now.
I have learned a valuable lesson about sharing our family vacation too early!

The trip itself was i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-e. We ate, slept, and played on the beach! Once or twice we squeezed in a movie. Panda has adjusted to the beach over the past couple of years and wasn't even bothered by the sand this trip. I wouldn't call him comfortable as he never left Ladybug's side, but he was full of smiles and laughs and belly flops (in one inch of water).

It was an almost magical time of refreshment for me, and subsequently my family, as I finally decompressed a bit. Vitamin D and the sounds of the ocean mixed with joyful squeals can seriously do miracles.

As for Panda's swag with his glasses...I'm pretty sure I am not physically capable of taking enough pictures!

What Panda did not quite know is that he would be undergoing eye surgery before he was able to get glasses. We waited until the actual week of the surgery before we dropped that little bomb.

It was supposed to be a fairly simple surgery, minus the anesthesia aspect. Panda has not reacted well to anesthesia in the past. We have had some pretty terrifying moments involving crash carts upon waking from procedures...He has given us all some pretty good scares, and now when he needs even a simple procedure, it isn't so simple. We were sent all around town for this surgery as multiple facilities weren't qualified to handle Panda's particular anesthesia risks. We landed with one of the top Ophthalmology surgeons and top anesthesiologists, so we went into the procedure with slightly more confidence.

Panda has nystagmus, which means his eyes are constantly moving back and forth, never still. His null point, the point at which he is able to hold his eyes mostly still and try to focus, is to his right, meaning he has to turn his head to try to see something clearly. The doctors have explained that as he grows, this constant head turn will affect the way his spine grows. No bueno. They planned to go in and rearrange the muscles in the back of his eyes, changing his null point to straight ahead. (See pic below for an example)

They have also had a tough time getting a read on his prescription as his eyes are always moving, and so while he was under they had planned to get a better read on his eye sight.

As it happens, they put him under only to find out during his eye exam that this whole thing is far more complicated than expected. They decided it was safer for now to not go forward with the surgery and just send us around to multiple more specialists before we tamper with his eye muscles. And thus, he had to wake up from anesthesia yet again, and it was incredibly dramatic and scary again. The whole thing was basically a wash except for the fact that they were finally able to figure out his prescription and we ordered the little fella some glasses.

The good news is that Panda is okay and breathing well to date, he now has glasses and can see better, and has already been seen by multiple specialists about this new medical mystery. Even though he has been with us almost two years the mysteries are still popping up, and it seems that last month  we reopened Pandora's box. We are definitely bummed that this may be a much bigger issue in his life, but we have grown used to the medical mystery song and dance. Let the research and endless appointments/tests begin! (again)

On a happy note, Panda and Ladybug trick-or-treated like little champs this year. Both kids were physically able to walk from house to house in their costumes - a first in our family history!! We are so thankful. God has blessed us beyond measure!