The ComeBack Kid.

It's been 7 months since we've had an EYE update and it's safe to say that we were ready for some news. To be fair, I am always ready for news, but when it comes to Dr. Cogen's words of wisdom, it is even harder to wait. 

There is such a familiar feeling on the drive to his appointments-worry and anxiousness all wrapped up with even more worry and, always, just the tiniest bit of hope trying to wedge it's foot in the door. It is hard to allow hope in because you just don't want to be disappointed. Surprise good news is so, so much better than surprise bad news. 

He did a terrible job reading the letters/shapes. He knew some of them, but he was all over the place on most of it. This was, of course, terrible for us because we had to wait HOURS for his eyes to dilate & Dr. Cogen to see him (not really, but the entire "Finding Nemo" movie did play while we were waiting, so I am not completely exaggerating.)

Entertaining Max was really the best part of the entire trip. Especially because he had just been to his 18 month check up the day before where he received his shots, so he didn't freak out about being in another doctor's office at all. Insert all sarcasm here. 

But, then we did get to see Dr. Cogen and Anderson was SO good-answering millions of questions, sitting still, doing everything that he asked him to do and just making me so proud of him. 

As it turns out, yet again, we were wrong about our assumptions and Anderson is actually doing AWESOME ! The reason that he was unable to read everything was because his prescription was wrong in his lens! 

His eye looks perfect, he is growing into his lens and...wait for it....we get to take a day off from patching every week!! We are now patching less in an entire week than we patched in a day when Anderson was Max's age. 

This journey. Wow. 

Now, for the bittersweet part-Dr. Cogen told us that Anderson will never be able to play tackle football. The constant hitting could impact his transplant lens, so it is off limits for him. 

Before I start my pity time, hear me correctly-I will never, ever be as grateful for anything in my life as I am for the fact that my son can see. We are winning, we are amazing, we are lucky. 

But....Anderson is obsessed with football. That is all he ever wants to do/play/talk about/live/etc. I know he is only 4 and legit tackle football is far away in our lives, but nobody wants their kid to not be able to do something. I wanted him to figure out on his own that his size/intensity probably work better for other sports; I don't want him to not play because he can't. 

I know, I can't worry about this right now; it always works out; football is dangerous and there are other sports, but it still makes me a little sad. 

Also, we have not told Anderson this news yet, so there is still a chance he will just decide on his own to not play before we have to tell him that he can't. A mama can hope, anyway.

But when I am sad about football, I remember our success level and I am reminded to not dwell on silly (that's for you, Nicole) things. 

Because success looks like this scenario: Anderson put his own patch on one morning a few weeks ago! I will always remember that day. I cannot, with any fiber of my being, truly understand that we have made it to the point where he puts his own patch on his eye. Well, maybe not "puts" because he only did it once, but this is still truly amazing. 

Also, I don't think I ever shared this, but remember when we went to Chattanooga to talk about Dr. Cogen? I found the link to the video. We are a few minutes into the video and I was literally 9 months pregnant, so ignore the chubbiness.

A link to the video where I am chubby and talk about Dr. Cogen being a miracle worker

Also, here is a video of an intense basketball game at Thanksgiving

Watch this video and you will notice a few things:

-Anderson is not terrible at dribbling for a 4 year old

-My entire family is basically on his team

-This is the result of me telling them that Anderson might not be able to play football, so everyone was trying to build up other sports.  I overheard Kyler talking about soccer and basketball with him on multiple occasions. It was seriously adorable. 

And, finally, Anderson posing with his Baseball certificate-"Comeback Kid." When he received it, my first thought was "Because of his EYE!" and then I realized that I am an idiot and his eye had nothing to do with baseball. Actually, it was his BROKEN WRIST that he played with the first few weeks that helped him earn that title. 

For some reason, I equate the two, though. Is there something about the fact that Anderson deals with eye issues that made him not miss a beat with 2 broken bones? Did the fact that he learned to walk/climb/run while only having access to one eye contribute to this athleticism? Does he even know or care about any of this?? Am I crazy? Yes, probably. 

Anyways, good news, yet again. And, for that, I am grateful.