Magdalena Update - Eye Surgery Sometime This Summer

As was alluded to before, Magdalena had her second eye doctor appointment at Casey Eye Institute at OHSU on Tuesday November 23. The clinical optometrist met with us, and tried to take some measurements of how much Magdalena's right eye drops down when her head is forced straight and she tries to track an object. Apparently she got a +2 at this past visit, whatever that means.

What we really learned at this appointment, however, was that contrary to my (bewildered) understanding after the last appointment, Magdalena actually requires several visits at the optometrists BEFORE having surgery. Apparently they need very precise measurements of how much her eye drops out prior to surgery in order to know the complete scope required for the surgery. Specifically, they are pretty positive that her right superior oblique muscle is affected, but possibly her right inferior muscle, as well as one or both of these on her left eye. Since she is so young and "un-cooperative" when it comes to sitting still and having these measurements accurately taken, the clinicians need to measure her 4-5 times in order to get a big enough data set from which to confidently make a recommendation as to the true measurement number.

We asked how often we would need to come in to have these measurements taken, and the optometrist asked us if we lived nearby. After convincing her that we weren't joking when we said that we lived in China, she said that ideally we would come in about every month or two until the summer, schedule a surgery for around July, and have one more measurement the day prior. After surgery, Magdalena would need to be evaluated at two weeks, six weeks, and three months. She went and checked with Dr. Karr, the ophthalmologist that Magdalena and I met with on Novemeber 1. He said that waiting until the end of March / early April would be an acceptable delay, but this was not something that we could delay for a year, say.

So now we have another appointment scheduled to meet with two different clinicians in early April - thereby trying to make up for one of the missed visits we should have scheduled for the early part of 2011. Then we'll probably schedule another one or two measurements for late May/early June, and still have surgery in July. After that, we'll be in frequently until October, as previously described.

All this is to say that most likely, we will be returning from China to the US at the end of March, if not June at the latest (though we'd still need to come back for a week in April for that one appointment). There are MANY things to work through in order to make this happen, the least of which is what job Alex will have and if we truly can return to Oregon, or if we'll have to go to Arizona or California, etc. Hopefully things will work out and we'll be in our beloved home of Portland.

On a lighter note, our friend Chippy took one year photos of Magdalena when we were home! She did a GREAT job, and there are so many awesome photos! I tried to narrow it down to a few - and will probably only print and frame two big ones (like we did for Lucia's one year). I'd love some votes on your favorites - I have selected one for sure, but am open on the second!


Photo 1: Hi!!!! This is just what Magdalena looks like to me when she says "Hi!"

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Photo 2: Sweet and serious (one of the few serious ones!)

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Photo 3: Another serious one, but very sweet:

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Photo 4: I just love this one - like she's saying "WHAZZUP?!"

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Photo 5: She's a big clapper - claps on command!

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Photo 6: So very HAPPY (she can say that now!):

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Photo 7: She looks a little cunning here:

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Photo 8: All right!!

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Photo 9: Arms UP! She loves to do this and say "Yay! - Touchdown, GO DUCKS!" (okay, so she can't say that last part yet, but WE CAN! :-)

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Photo 10: Little cutie!

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Photo 11: This is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE - she looks so happy and proud of herself!

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Next up, It may be too late to post about our two Thanksgivings in Oregon courtesy of my parents and the Cornetts (Thanks guys!), but I do want to post about the Holiday Bazaar here in Dalian, China, to benefit the orphanage. Also, Magdalena's TREMENDOUS vocabulary - not yet 14 months and she already can say magnet, light, UP, more, eat, walk, Baaa (as in "A Sheep Says"), ayi!, happy, and so many more words! It's super cute and so fun to teach her new words each day.