Words one never wants to hear from a doctor: "This is bad. This is really bad. This is worse than I thought."
Kristina and I heard those words today, sitting with an opthamologist who'd just looked at detailed scans of her eyes. Kristina's vision is permanently damaged. He's very concerned at this point that we take the utmost care in her treatment not to lose what vision she has left, so he plans to consult with her neurologist later today to discuss her treatment. At the top of the list of probabilities is a trip to Little Rock to put a shunt in, directing any fluid build-up away from Kristina's brain and into her abdomen. The point, again, is to protect what's left of her eyesight. We aren't talking long-term treatment yet.
We may never know if permanent vision loss could have been avoided. I might not get loud and rowdy if I bumped into one of those yahoos that looked in her eyes and missed (quoting the doctor who finally identified the real issue) "the worst edema [he's] ever seen." But if I'm having a bad day, I might.Right now we're both sad, scared and mad...and we're holding onto the hem of His robe. And I think that means we'll be okay.