Jean in Newcastle Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Whew! After a two hour exam, we now know that she has a very rare growth on the blood vessels in her retina. It is benign and is much like a strawberry birthmark only in her eye. It is not in an area that affects her vision. They will be monitoring it. I pressed them a bit and they admitted that if it changes, they actually have no idea what to do for it but she would be passed on to even more specialized retina specialists. It has probably been there since birth but was not seen because at younger ages her eyes were not dilated and looked at this closely. It actually made the doctors quite excited because of it's rarity and it's "impressiveness". They were making comments like "way cool" and "I need a picture for my journal article!" She will have another appointment with these same specialists in 4 months and they will see if there are any changes. Most of the appointment, while long and involving a bunch of sophisticated machines with cameras and bright lights, was painless. There was one slightly painful part that did cause a few tears but my dd was a trouper. We have now apologized to the cat for blaming it for toxoplasmosis.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadianmumof5 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Good news :001_smile: ETA: hopefully they explained what to watch for in terms of symptoms of detachment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Thanks for the update, Jean! I'm so relieved that it's benign, but I wish it was something that would just go away over time or something. BTW, your cat has informed me that he does not accept your apology, and that a whole lot of tuna will need to be involved before he even considers it. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 Good news :001_smile: ETA: hopefully they explained what to watch for in terms of symptoms of detachment? No. They didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 So glad for the outcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 BTW, your cat has informed me that he does not accept your apology, and that a whole lot of tuna will need to be involved before he even considers it. ;) I know this is strange, but our cat does not like tuna! You must have misheard. He was probably asking for refried beans.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Phew! Happy you had a good appointment....and it is something that can be monitored. Scratch kitty behind the ears for me....I almost was annoyed with him too:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 so glad it is ok. My parents had a similar scare with me. Turns out I have what are basically "freckles" on my retina...random pigment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadianmumof5 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 No. They didn't. Blurry vision, or just things look wavy/uneven, headaches. Try and print off an amsler grid to have on hand and check every now and then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Yay! :D I actually have something like this going on in my eye too. But it wasn't discovered until I was an adult. My grandmother actually had something benign and harmless they were watching that was discovered later in life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 :hurray: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 oh, shew. Praying it either goes away, or just stays the way it is. :grouphug: It is hard to see our dds go through even a little pain, huh? Hugs to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparkle Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Glad she's OK! I have something similar in one of my eyes, and my eye dr. just checks it every year to make sure it's not growing or changing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 I'm glad it was good news. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 I should note that we need to follow up with her pediatrician to make sure that there is nothing else there besides that and that it might not be contributing to the migraines she has on occasion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 That's good news. Eye problems are always scary. Hopefully this thing will stay in its place and mind its own business! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimtaxi234 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Thank you for posting an update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mybluesky Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Yay! Good news! Thanks for letting us know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Whew! After a two hour exam, we now know that she has a very rare growth on the blood vessels in her retina. It is benign and is much like a strawberry birthmark only in her eye. It is not in an area that affects her vision. They will be monitoring it. I pressed them a bit and they admitted that if it changes, they actually have no idea what to do for it but she would be passed on to even more specialized retina specialists. It has probably been there since birth but was not seen because at younger ages her eyes were not dilated and looked at this closely. It actually made the doctors quite excited because of it's rarity and it's "impressiveness". They were making comments like "way cool" and "I need a picture for my journal article!" She will have another appointment with these same specialists in 4 months and they will see if there are any changes. Most of the appointment, while long and involving a bunch of sophisticated machines with cameras and bright lights, was painless. There was one slightly painful part that did cause a few tears but my dd was a trouper. We have now apologized to the cat for blaming it for toxoplasmosis.;) That's kind of cool. Austin has some wierd stuff with his eyes but no cool talks about articles etc. He has a mole on the inside of one that gives 1 part of the white of his eye a brown spot. And he has larger than normal retinas, which we did not know about until we went to a new specialist last fall and she did the photograph thing that our old eye doctor does not do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 I'm glad it's benign and shouldn't cause her any problems. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Very glad all went well for her...and you too...oh, and of coarse the cat also! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgrin Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Don't you hate it when you (or DC) have something doctors find "cool". Our youngest DS had his first dental x-rays this past year, and you should have seen the scurrying and extra people in the room looking at the x-rays. The doctor bounded in saying, "Are you serious? That is so cool!" Turns out DS has a third top front adult tooth. It hasn't come in yet, and they weren't able to tell from the x-rays which angle it is going to come in. But they can't do anything about it until he loses the two baby teeth that are blocking it right now. Yep. Weird. I'm glad that your news wasn't something awful, though. Give kitty and DD some extra love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 Don't you hate it when you (or DC) have something doctors find "cool". Actually, for dd, having them react that way took her from being scared stiff to thinking that this was pretty cool herself. I, on the other hand, found myself not so happy. They kept reassuring me that xyz probably won't happen etc. which translated really means that they don't know because there haven't been enough cases for them to know what really could happen. And while I am happy with their expertise in monitoring what is going on, I got them to admit that if something did start to change that we would have to find a much more sophisticated specialist in order to know what to do about it. Hopefully that will never be the case, but I do like to cover all the what if's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1bassoon Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Glad to hear the positive outcome!! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Entropymama Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 :grouphug: So glad it turned out that way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Thanks for the update. I am glad you got good news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Hey, cool, it's always fun to keep the Doctors excited like that. :D And yay for your Dd! It all worked out for the best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 I'm so glad it's turned out benign for your dd and hope/pray it stays benign as the drs expect. I have an eye dr story. I was 16 or 17, and at the eye dr alone. The dr leaned in closer, scrutinizing my face and eyes at close quarters, then said, "Hm." He looked at me once or twice, then picked up the phone and said, "Can you come to my office? There's something I'd like you to see." Next thing you know there's another dr at the door. The two drs conferred in hushed tones for a minute, and then the second dr came and looked at my eyes and my face. Then he said, "Yes. I think definitely." The first dr got back on the phone. Within minutes the tiny room was FILLED with drs, all looking at my face and making unintelligible dr comments. After several minutes of this, I timidly spoke up: "Can someone please tell me what's wrong with me?" The room was suddenly silent. Then the original dr apologized and said, "There's nothing wrong, per se. We've just never seen this before." Turns out I have Waardenburg Syndrome. Like many who have this, I have mostly the physical appearance characteristics but not the hearing loss, so it really hasn't impacted my life much. The drs had all learned about it in med school but never seen it in a live human being, and they were really excited. It felt a little weird being stared at and discussed, but once I understood the reason I didn't mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 I am so glad it to hear that it is not harmful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraidycat Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Good news!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Mama Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 SO thankful for the news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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