Vision Problems and Santa Claus

Graham Update Day 47 (7/25/14)

A major concern that we've had since Graham's accident has been his vision.  On day 1 they told us there was a very great possibility that Graham would lose his vision completely as a result of the accident. At the beginning of the month we fasted together with our ward at church and many others while praying that Graham would be able to see, and just two days later he opened his left eye for the first time.  He has been able to see color, count, and read, which has been an enormous blessing.  His right eye has only just recently started to open, and just a crack at that, and today we started to test it for the first time in occupational therapy.

Graham's occupational therapist started off his session like normal, but then part way through worked with Graham to tape his right eye open.  She patched his left eye (the he's been able to open and see out of) so that she could try to determine exactly what he is seeing with the eye that's been closed.  As she recounted her observations to me, her eyes moistened and she choked up just a bit.  She repeated Graham's description of what he could see:  "Ummmm, mostly black."  She said he did appear to be responsive to light.  Graham described being able to see a little "to the left and to the right," and said that he was reactive to her hand coming towards his face, although it might have just been a reaction to the fanning motion of her hand.

At this point we are not entirely sure what this means.  We've known blindness might be a possibility for some time, and the fact that he can even see out of one eye is a miraculous answer to fasting and prayers.  Graham has exceeded everyone's expectations, and so to at least a small extent it feels like we are playing with house money.  His neurologist here has ordered a very detailed MRI for next week, so we should learn a lot about his vision and other parts of his brain as well.  It will be used to provide a guide as to what will respond well to therapy now, and what will just take time to heal.

I have to say it is so comforting to see therapists who, like Graham's nurses at Children's, care so deeply for him.  Anyone doing any "job" can get burnt out and resort to checking boxes and punching timecards.  I wouldn't blame anyone if they did that in their job - it's human nature.  But to see wonderful people who seem to be as invested in Graham's recovery as we are has made this summer much more bearable.

So we will wait to see what the MRI shows some time next week, but in the mean-time Graham continues to make great strides.  After OT he was able to say what he played during his session (Go-Fish) which was a good demonstration of short-term memory.  He was also able to recount his special visitor from earlier in the day - Santa Claus.  Yes, it's Christmas in July here at Cook Children's!  Graham got to Sit on Santa's lap, enjoy a snow cone, and have a wonderful July 25th holiday.  He will have some therapy tomorrow morning, and then enjoy a very restful Sunday.  We will be anxious to see what the MRI reveals, and will be prayerful that he continues to make progress in all areas, including his vision.