A Twist.

Soon after we brought Ruthie home, I noticed that when she was really sleepy, her eyes would kind of go googly.  In my dumb, first-time mom way, I thought that her eyes were just unfocused, you know, like a little baby's are sometimes......the problem is, it got worse.  Her eyes went googly in the middle of the day sometimes, and for long enough periods of time that we realized what was actually happening:  one of her eyes was wandering outward.  I talked to one of my childhood friends, Kari, (hi Kari!), who's an optometrist.  She told me it sounded like strabismus, and recommended we see a local pediatric opthamologist, Dr. Stager.  Meanwhile, Ruthie's eyes were definitely getting worse.  Her other eye would wander outwards sometimes, too.  It was definitely unnerving.  

Long story short:  we had our dr.'s appointment yesterday.  Ruthie will have eye surgery for exotopia in the next month or so.  It's a common, low-risk surgery.  Ruthie's prognosis is excellent. 

Thoughts:

1. We are SO thankful for our doctor, who is known to be excellent, and who does these surgeries all the time.

2.What if little Ruthie were still in Ethiopia, alone?  I've thought about that a lot.

3. And furthermore, what about all the little ones in Ethiopia now, who may lose their vision due to strabismus, a totally correctible eye disorder?

We are counting our blessings over here, thinking of the many children across the world who do not have the incredible access to medical treatment that we have.