Back from Rochester

What a day! We left at 7 am and got home at 4. Everything went very smoothly but it was exhausting. Here's the day in a nutshell:

Dr. Gearinger (pediatric eye doc): Sumana's right eye drifted outward for him (which he said is better than drifting in??!!). He said he has a similar problem. He showed her an exercise to force her eyes to focus near and far repeatedly. His main concern was if this was an issue related to her shunt. Her eye pressure was ok, but her optic nerve is so damaged from birth that he really couldn't say if it was inflamed or not. So, she's to try out these exercises and come back in February.

Nerve testing: Miss Kathy and Miss Lisa rigged Sumana up with a bunch of sensors and wires and then zapped her with electricity. (cue mad scientist cackle!) It really didn't bother her much, mostly crazy laughing from the tickling action she felt as they cleaned her skin and placed the sensors. However, the funny thing for me was listening and watching Miss Lisa. I imagine she is an older woman from the former Soviet Union. She would count as she raised the electric current. "I'm at 8 . . . 9 . . . 10, are you ok? really? let's keep going: 11 . . . 15 . . . 16 . . . 19 . . . 20 . . .. 21!!!!!!! I could just picture her as a former KGB interrogator!!! (I must have been desperate for some entertainment!!!)

Indian lunch: We went to Mysore Woodlands again. They have such great food. I still get a kick out of watching Sumana eat. This time we had Gavin with us, so we got to watch his reaction to the food. He seemed to love the chicken, rice pudding, and naan. I guess the restaurant staff must have thought he ate a lot . . . they charged us $5 for him??!!! Well, it was for Sumana and it kept Gavin happy, so I just went with it. (Note to self: don't take Gavin next time!!! or only feed him his baby food!!)

Dr. Sanders: Sumana had the obligatory pre-op x-rays and physical with Nurse Suzanne. Dr. Sanders came in and discussed his plans for the next surgery. He thinks this is the last lengthening he can get for the rods, so the next surgery will be more involved because they'll change out the rods. He was pleased with how this VEPTR looked and is optimistic about this surgery. He will reserve a room for her again, but as long as things go ok, we can head home the same day.

He did seem to think it would be a good idea to run Sumana's symptoms by Dr. Silberstein(her neurosurgeon). He doesn't see any potential complications with the upcoming surgery, but because of the symptoms, he advised us to get Dr. Silberstein's opinion. That will be on my agenda for tomorrow.

Thanks for praying for us . . . I'll try to keep you more informed over the next few weeks.