The beginning

As a few of you may have heard we received some rather unsettling news on Averie this past week. She has been diagnosed with Optic Nerve Atrophy, which means her optic nerve is weak. We did, however, recently receive results of her MRI back and there are no brain tumors causing her vision loss it did not tell us what is though. For those of you that hadn't heard whats been going on in my new year here it is from the beginning...


In late October we found out Aves was severely near sighted, we got her in glasses. It wasn't really a big deal, everyone in my family wears glasses, (except Uncle PJ) and thought that was the extent of it. Well I hadn't noticed much improvement in her since we've had her in the glasses these past two months and then to confirm my feelings, this past Monday Aves teacher mentioned she too didn't think that Aves glasses were the correct strength. So I made an appointment with her eye doctor; who confirmed Aves vision had changed significantly since being in the glasses which set off red flags and she sent us immediately to a retinal specialist Dr. Berenstain (like Berenstain Bears :) he diagnosed Aves with an abnormal optic nerve and thinning of the retina, and sent us to a Neuro Opthamologist at John Hopkins. This Doctor also confirmed that Aves optic nerve was atrophic. However he doesn't take my health insurance so we are now heading to Children's Hospital to see FITTINGLY Dr. Avery (who does take my insurance) on Tuesday for a game plan.
What we do know isn't easy to talk about so I hope no one is upset I haven't called I literally can't speak I get out two or three words and the tears take OVER. Hence the reason for this blog, it allows me to get things i am thinking out, and also keep all of you who i KNOW care about Aves just as much as I do in the loop.

Right now Aves visual acuity is 20/200, the easiest way to explain this vision is that she can see only at 20 feet what a normal person can see at 200 feet. While the MRI had promising news that there aren't any tumors putting pressure on the optic nerve, it didn't explain her "abnormal optic nerve". I am doing my best to stay positive I know things could be worse but right now I am on major over load and have major highs and lows. I am very thankful that right now Aves is semi-clueless, she knows she can't see any better and its frustrating her, but she knows we are going to these doctors to find out why. Needless to say I have lots of hope that Dr. Avery will be able to give us the answers and explain things in more detail. I promise to keep everyone updated as much as possible.


I will post more once we get back from seeing Dr. Avery!


Hugs and Kisses to everyone THANK you all SO much for your support.


Love, Annie