Life, Hiking and Second Opinions

I feel like I always say this week was crazy so maybe I will just stop...I guess with kids around, it's always this way!  This morning we had our appointment with the leading pediatric opthamologist at UCLA to get a second (I guess third) opinion on Emily's eyes and whether she needs surgery.  It was a LONG day (3hr appointment) but the news was overall good.  He basically agreed with everything our original opthamologist has said.  We do not need surgery yet!  Yipee!  And her eyes are bad but still correctable.  He said the reason we had conflicting opinions was that if you look at her eyes individually, they need surgery but when you look at them together, they do not.  They are working well as a pair and since the real world is seen with two eyes, we don't need to take such a huge risk with her eyes at this point.  Interestingly, his fellow was not able to get Emily to look to the right or up but when he came in, he was able to get her eye to move in those directions.  It is highly possible experience had a lot to do with this.

I don't know if you remember the conflict that arose so let me remind you. We had gone down to see Emily's retinal specialist and he had thought we should have had surgery by now and sent us out for a second opinion...which we gladly went to.  I would love to say that I trust drs implicitly but after Emily, I have learned to question everyone, even specialists.  Sadly, my trust has been broken.

Anyway, we ended up with conflicting opinions about virtually all things that had to do with Emily's eyes.  We took this to our original opthamlogist and he suggested we get a second opinion from UCLA and then told us clearly, "you have too many cooks in the pot" and we needed to choose just one.  Now that today's opinion matches perfectly with our dr, I feel confident that our dr is right for us and we need to stick with him and kick everyone else out - which is good since he lives and hour and a half closer to us!  :-)

Unfortunately, we will be getting new glasses - again!! - but it is mostly because she is not using the bifocal and he would like to see us try out prisms to help her field of vision.  Her eyes are -21 and -19, so a little worse as well.  I admit it is kind of frustrating to keep going through new glasses since they cost so much and our insurance doesn't cover it but at the same time, this feels like it might finally be the right pair and so we are willing to try one more thing.

People keep asking if I regret all the time and money we spent wandering away only to come back to our dr and I say, "Not one bit!".  Have you ever questioned something you believe?  The process you go through is to suddenly have fear that you may have believed something false all these years, to panic, and then to calm down and investigate.  You search through resources, research and any information available to come to a strong, valid and research-based opinion.  When the belief you questioned turns out to be true, and you come to the same conclusion you held from the very beginning, do you wish you had not questioned in the first place?  No!  You are glad you were able to search out the answer (again) and come to the same conclusion.  You gain confidence, trust, faith, and surety that what you believe is true.  You are glad you did it because you remember why you believe what you believe.  It is the same with this situation.  We questioned, we searched, we discovered that our original conclusion was correct.  Now when another dr asks me why we haven't gotten surgery yet, I reply, with confidence, "Because, we do not need it."  And I can stand my ground without wavering and wondering if I am trusting something I should not.  I move forward, not wasting time and energy doubting, questioning and doing nothing to alleviate my fears.  I am glad we went through this process because now I can lay it to rest...in my heart and in my mind.  Besides, when we move and get new drs, I will have a boatload of information in my arsenal.  :)

Well, all that said, let's look at some pictures!

Yes, we did it...M was inspired by someone on FB who decorated for Christmas and then wrote, "Yes we did!!", so we did too.  This is the first time Em was really excited about it too.  She couldn't stay away from the lights.

Seeing if they will hurt her foot or not?

Running their favorite train for the first time without help.

Yep, I came in one day to a full box of diapers strewn about the room and the girls trying to put them on their dolls...

Saturday morning preschool...

Learning about color mixing the fun way!

Ok, so it's  a little more clear on K's.

My friend J has decided she also wants her kids to learn to hike and so we have started heading out together...

This is usually our view of K and Z...they run everywhere!

There's a light load.

Em with her leash...I mean her puppy.

K had Sammy and Z wanted something to lead so we gave her Em.

Are those trees?  Why yes!  We found some and they lasted for a good 200 yards!

Our first good view...

We ended up at an old abandoned house.

The older two discovered stumps and since they were having so much fun, I snapped a bunch of pictures along the way.

How cool are the bricks for this background?

We also went to A's house to have her make fingerprint ornaments for Christmas.  They are so cute!  If you want any and you are a local, give me a call!

As life continues, so does ours!  We are down in Fullerton to visit with Nana and Poppy and hopefully Great-nana will fly in tomorrow.  I pray your Thanksgiving is blessed!  I know ours is!