[Eye] needed a second opinion

Ryan has been seeing the same pediatric ophthalmologist since he was released from the ROP doctor back in 2015. I was fairly happy with him, although I would leave the appointment with the overall gist (i.e. Ryan did not need glasses), but had no idea about any of the actual details. It was all a little over my head and I didn't feel like it was explained in layman's terms. Also, his teachers and therapists continued to ask me whether I was sure that he didn't need glasses. He continues to get very, very close to objects that he's interested in. If he's liking the book I'm reading, he'll crawl right up to it and put his face so close to the book that I can no longer turn the page! The therapists and teachers all felt like it was a vision issue and that he was getting so close so that he could actually see it. They even gave me a name of another Doctor that they recommended who they felt like might prescribe him some glasses.

Each time I would go to the eye doctor for Ryan's appointment, he would continue to tell me that Ryan did not need glasses. I didn't want to insist that he get them (I mean, I don't really want him to have them!), but I was at a crossroads. I wasn't sure who to believe or what was the right thing to do. I had heard recommendations, as I mentioned above, for another pediatric ophthalmologist, who was prescribing glasses for kids that Ryan's doctor had said the same thing about. I figured that I might as well go for an appointment and just give it a shot and see what she had to say. It took about 6 months to get an appointment so it felt like it took forever until we got to see her, but we finally got an appointment at the end of October.

The first part of the appointment went well. We were in a room with a nurse and I was answering questions about things he does do, things he doesn't do, tendencies, diagnoses, etc. The nurse was doing some basic tests and putting images on a screen for him to see. The difficult part is that since Ryan is non-verbal, he can't tell us what he can or can't see. We can't rely on his cognition to provide us any clues into his vision abilities. It's challenging. Anyway, I'm sure Ryan's not the first non-verbal kid with neurological issues that they've seen! After the session with the nurse, we went to a little waiting area right next to the rooms where patients are seen. Not long after, we got called in to do some initial testing with Dr. White. She was very, very thorough. She was using toys to try to get Ryan's attention and see how he tracked, and how his eyes responded to certain stimuli. I didn't have a clue what she was doing or what she was able to take note of, but was just observing and holding on to Ryan. At the end of this part, they wanted to dilate Ryan's eyes, which consists of putting a few different drops of liquid into each eye. The first round, he was fine. The second round, he started getting upset. The third round, he started crying and the fourth round of drops did him in. The nurse told us to go back to the waiting area right outside the door and I was holding Ryan and trying to get him to settle down. If you know Ryan pretty well, you will know that if he gets upset enough, he will make himself gag. It's not really all that uncommon when he gets upset, but he rarely gets upset. So I'm holding him close and walking to the waiting area and he vomits all over the both of us. I couldn't put him down because I didn't want to get vom everywhere. The nurse noticed and immediately escorted us to the restroom. I had to sit him down on the floor of the public bathroom. Yes, that actually happened. I literally had to take off his shirt and jacket and run them under the sink to get to throw up off, as his top half caught most of it. I took a wet paper towel to wipe off his face, hands and jeans. After I got him mostly cleaned up, his shirt was soaking wet, so I just put his jacket on and zipped it up. All this time he's still sitting on the floor of the restroom at a doctor's office, because I needed both hands to clean everything up. UGH. Then I had to get myself cleaned up, since I had throw up on my sweater and in my hair. Sweater came off and had to get run under the faucet as well and then I had to bend over sideways to put my hair under the running water to try to get it all out. To sum it up: we looked like drowned rats, were cold and smelled something awful. It was definitely NOT a good experience. I know you must be thinking, "why didn't you just go home and change, crazy lady?!?!?!" Well, honestly, the thought crossed my mind, A LOT, but it had taken us 6 months to even get an appointment. We were halfway done and I didn't want to wait another 6 months to get back in there. Our house is a good 20-30 minutes away from the office so I knew they wouldn't hold our spot for us to come back and finish the appointment. I wanted answers and didn't want to waste another day on another appointment, which may or may not have the same vomit results from the eye dilation.

So after I did my best clean-up job, we went back to the waiting area. I tried to sit as far away from other people as I could and prayed that no one could smell us from where they were sitting. YUCK. I got a nurse to find me a plastic bag to put Ryan's shirt in so I could take it home and wash it.

Sweet boy with dilated eyes and no shirt on

t-shirt in plastic bag evidence

When we got called back in to see Dr. White again and finish the appointment, I apologized for our appearance/smell and we just continued on as if nothing was wrong. I'm sure they were ready to get us out of there! I couldn't wait to get done and get home. My sweater was all wet and stuck to me. Ok, let's move on....

Apart from the "incident" describe above, the appointment was really good and I really liked Dr. White. I'm going to continue taking Ryan to see her. She spent a lot of time with us, probably around 1 hour WITH her, not including waiting time and nurse time, and not only was she thorough with the exam, she was very detailed in her discussion with me to help me understand what is going on.

She does think Ryan is visually impaired, but it's a cortical/cerebral impairment, not an issue with his actual eyes. It's called CVI - cerebral visual impairment. It's mainly the way his brain is processing what his eyes are seeing. She thinks the biggest issue is his peripheral vision.  It was interesting to notice that he could see toys and objects right in front of him, but wouldn't notice it at all if she held it out to the side. Dr. White suggested orientation & mobility (O&M) training for Ryan. I've mentioned that to his therapists, but haven't heard much back yet. I need to follow up on that! I'm not yet familiar with O&M but it sounds like I might be learning about it soon. She gave me a link to learn more about CVI and a suggestion to watch a specific educational video on the website (that I have yet to do #momfail). Writing this post though as reminded me about all these things that I didn't immediately follow up on and it's rejuvenating my intentions!

Dr. White said Ryan's eyes are coping well right now, despite some mild scarring from ROP and mild hyperopia with astigmatism (poor guy), but she also did NOT recommend glasses. So that part was actually on point with the other doctor and I was secretly relieved. I feel good about having 2 doctors saying the same thing, so we can avoid glasses...for now anyways.

We have a follow up appointment in 6 months and I've cancelled our follow ups with the other doctor, since I was so impressed with Dr. White.

When we left, Ryan got some cool kid-sized dilation sunglasses (well film, really) and I put them on him. He felt pretty studly. Instead of taking him directly to school, as was the plan, we had to go across town, back to my house for us BOTH to shower and change clothes. I've never felt better in my life!!!! Clean, dry clothes do a world of good when you've been in stinky, wet clothes for 1+ hours! Same goes for Ryan! ;)

Stud with his shades

"What's up, ladies?"

Soccer wrap up

The boys's soccer season was fun while it lasted! We really enjoyed getting out there on Saturday mornings and cheering on the Frogs. All the kids on their team were adorable and watching them running around - sometimes after the ball, sometimes not - was truly awesome and so, so funny.

We had to miss the last game of the season due to our Knoxville trip but our fantastic coaches decided to host an end of the season soccer party for all the kids at their neighborhood clubhouse. They bought lunch for everyone and then handed out the YMCA trophies at the end. Not all the kids/families could make it but there was a pretty good showing. The cool thing about this get together was getting to see everyone in a different environment than the soccer field. We could actually chat with some of the other parents and get to know them a little better without being distracted with helping on the field or getting water cups, etc.

It was such a nice little get together and I hope that we'll end up seeing some of these kids and parents in other sports activities that we sign up for in the future. GO FROGS! :)

Lunch is served! Thanks to our generous and sweet coaches!

The Y trophies

Special soccer cupcakes

Dancing and playing

Showing off their "championship rings" (the toppers
from the soccer cupcakes ;)

What a cute bunch!

Handing out the trophies

So proud!

Last team huddle with the coaches

Walhalla Oktoberfest 2017

This year was our second year in a row to attend Walhalla's Oktoberfest. It is such a fun festival! I love to go back and visit old blog posts, even to simply seen how much the boys have changed. Here's the 2016 Oktoberfest post.

We made plans once again with my friend Bonnie and her family. They are fun to be around and just so laid back and easy to hang out with. We got there and grabbed some lunch and ate under the big tent. There were some German musicians playing traditional music with some German cheers and shouts mixed in. It was educational and fun! After lunch, when we were ready to venture out with full bellies and German music in our heads, we bought ride tickets and let the boys decide which rides they wanted to go on. They were all having a blast! Ryan couldn't go on all the rides, so he stayed out with us parents most of the time. We went to a few rides that he could do and we discovered that he loved the carousel. Then he got to ride it several more times when all the other boys were off doing other rides.

We let the kids pretty much run the show until the tickets ran out. By that point, we'd been there for a few hours and needed to get back home. Thomas and I had tickets to go see Jason Aldean in concert that night - woo hoo! We had beautiful, sunny (actually, hot!) weather, friends to hang out with, yummy German food (or maybe it was just fair food) and rides. What more can you ask for?!?!? Do I smell an annual tradition brewing?!?! See ya next year, Walhalla Oktoberfest!

German musician

William and Dada listening to the music

Stokes on the stage/dance floor

Family photo opp!

All the kids!
Pictures here are Bonnie's nephews, her son Grant, and the boys

Helicopter ride

Bonnie and Grant on the carousel

Dada and Ryan

Having a blast!

This is my kind of ride!

Such a cutie!

Mama with Ryan

Stokes allergy update

Stokes had a routine follow-up appointment at the Allergist back in October. I was really, really, really hopeful that we would discover that he had outgrown his egg allergy...and his peanut allergy, too, but I'm not trying to be greedy! They redid the prick test on his back with his allergens. The results??? See for yourself.





P= peanut, E = egg, H = histamine and S = saline (the control). So ideally you want all of the allergens, in Stokes's case, eggs and peanuts, to look like the saline prick, i.e. nothing. The histamine prick will definitely get a reaction, by design, so it's a way to compare what reactions the allergens create. As you can see, unfortunately, he has not outgrown either allergy.

Poor guy - this test is really itchy and you can't scratch or touch the back. It was driving Stokes crazy. iPhone to the rescue!

When we spoke with the allergist, she explained that there is a blood test that we could do to determine whether we could potentially allow him to try eggs in baked good. Basically, if the lab results came back a certain way, we could bring him back into her office, give him something that contained eggs there in the office, and then see if he had a reaction. We were eager to get going on that option.

We left the allergist and immediately went to the lab to get the blood drawn. One word to describe the blood draw - traumatic. Stokes figured out quickly what he was there for and screamed bloody murder (pun intended) before he had even gotten stuck. He was crying and sweating and it was just awful. I was so glad once it was done. I felt so bad for him.

Once we left, I told him I'd take him out to lunch and let him pick the place. He chose Wendy's. There's one right near their school and he and William were noticing it and asking me about it. Well I took that booger to the Wendy's and he ate every single bite of his kid's meal. That's saying a lot because he really doesn't eat much usually. He had such a great time at Wendy's and it didn't take him long to forget about the lab.





I got the results from the blood draw about a week later. I was so ready to hear those words about him eating stuff with baked eggs (cookies, cakes, etc.) but alas, his blood work was not agreeable. His allergist told me we'd wait another year and try again and see what it came back with.

*Side note: this is very unfortunate, but he does end up getting products with eggs every so often, or maybe eating something that is manufactured in a facility that processes eggs/peanuts. Oops. It's rare, but it has happened. I'm so thankful that we haven't seen major reactions. I typically give him a dose of Benadryl if we realize that has happened, just to be on the safe side, but he's done just fine. Because of this, I really thought it would be time to incorporate some (baked) egg products into his diet, but it's not meant to be right now. I will keep hoping and praying that we'll get different results next time!

BBQ, a Birthday, bees (and apples)

As I alluded in the Family Gameday post, we had plans to visit Ashley and the family the weekend following the Clemson homecoming game. Tennessee had a home game against the Gamecocks and it was Granddad's birthday weekend. Ashley invited the family over to her house for a birthday celebration and to watch the UT game. Everyone was instructed to wear orange (no problem here!) and it made for a fun color-coordinated party in honor of Granddad, the handsome patriarch of the Peery family.

A little background here - Thomas was up in NY for a work meeting that week and it just so happened that Clemson was playing Syracuse on that Friday night.  Don't get me started on having to play on a Friday night. This is COLLEGE, for heaven's sake. Anyways....on the positive side, this was good for two reasons: 1) we wouldn't have to miss the Clemson game during Granddad's party on Saturday, and 2) Thomas was in the Syracuse area and got to go to the game and his travel was paid for. MaSha agreed to ride with me to Knoxville so that I wouldn't be by myself with all 3 crazies. We got a little bit later start than what we would have preferred, but Ryan had a horse therapy lesson on Friday afternoon that I didn't want to skip, so we left straight from there and drove to Knoxville. We hit a bunch of traffic near Asheville and it took way longer than it should have. I was so tired and it was dark and I'm not that familiar with the way since I've never driven there (and am usually sleeping while Thomas drives) so I was really glad to have her there in the car keeping me company and helping to keep the boys happy.

So Friday night wasn't all that great, because of the traffic situation in Asheville and I wasn't able to keep up with my Clemson football update texts due to driving, but my beloved Tigers lost in Syracuse. The #2 team vs an unranked team - quite the upset. So Thomas wasn't too happy either. He said he pretty much booked it out of that stadium when it was apparent that the game wasn't going to get any better. I can say, now that the regular season is over, that it was our only loss this year and it stung. Bad. But, Thomas flew in to Knoxville on Saturday morning, and it was a beautiful day and I was still in denial about what happened on Friday night, and we enjoyed the day big time!

Ashley's house is perfect for entertaining. Not only is it beautiful and decorated so well, but they have this amazing back screened in porch with a tv and comfy, beautiful furnishings and it's just awesome. We had BBQ for lunch and the boys got lots of loving from all the family and we watched football - nothing better!

Ryan getting some attention from Jerry and Mag

Granddad opening gifts and surrounded by
great grandchildren

One of my favorite gifts of the day! Granddad got a new sport coat from Zack's dad, Thompson.

Dapper young man looking very handsome!

Check out the inside! Lined with UT fabric!!!

Group pic

So this was a BIG hit! They love that Uncle Zack has a tractor!!!!

The next day, we had to come back through the mountains to get home and since it was October, aka apple time, we stopped by SkyTop Apple Orchard!

We walked around (most of the apple picking was already over), the boys played in the kids area/playground, we got apple donuts, stretched our legs and got some fresh air. The downside though was that the bees were out in force and people were getting stung left and right. We bought some fresh apple cider, but it was hard to drink because the bees were swarming it. The boys got a few tastes, but we ended up having to throw it out and get back in the car because we were on borrowed time until someone got stung!!

Stokes loved the wagon and kept wanting to pull it, which proved to be difficult at times and on certain terrain.

Family Gameday!

Wow, this post is old. Again, I'm trying to go in chronological order, and I'm back in mid-October for the blog, when it's actually mid-December (in real life) and all I can think about is Christmas and the holidays. Onward!

Our first Family Of Five Gameday Experience happened! October 7, 2017

Don't we look great?!?! Read below!

We didn't have a babysitter MaSha (our "go to" sitter!) to watch Ryan for us on Clemson's homecoming football game this year, so we got crazy and took him with us with only 4 tickets to the game. You see, you can take small toddlers in with you without a ticket if you carry them in and they sit in your lap. Sitting in the lap is no big deal. Even if he had a ticket and a seat, he'd still be in the lap. The tough(er) part is carrying him in since he's getting big and doesn't reaaaallllyyyyy look like a two year old anymore. But we didn't want to skip the game, and decided to take a chance that they wouldn't question us.

So let's start at the beginning. This was back during Stokes and William's soccer "season" (hee hee) so they had a game at 8:30 AM. The football game was scheduled for a noon kickoff. And a little tangent here - NOON KICKOFFS ARE HARD. Traffic is crazy, the morning seems really crammed, you have to get up early on a Saturday (yuck) - it's just hard. So anyways, we knew we'd had to go straight to Clemson from the soccer game, so there was a lot of pre-planning and car packing going on ahead of time and early risers (well, me) to get everything ready to go before soccer started . We went to soccer, had fun, got the boys dressed for game day and out of soccer uniform in the car, and then took off to Clemson.

Post soccer game team huddle

Cute team! We loved our team, the Frogs!

On our way to see the Tiger play!

We had snacks in the car on the way and luckily (or unluckily??) hit some traffic, which afforded us time to eat said snacks (I have to feed Ryan so I could feed him more easily when we're not moving) before the mad dash to the stadium. Traffic was brutal and we did not get parked until close to 11. We park FAR, and I repeat, FAR from the stadium so I knew it would be a struggle to maneuver through the crowds and get to the game in time to see all the festivities, hear the band and watch the Running Down The Hill. However, I could not be dismayed and was GOING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. We had a double stroller with us for Ryan and 1 brother and then between Thomas and me, we switched off carrying the 3rd and the other adult pushing the stroller. Ummm...we were sweating. It was hot. It was a struggle.

Let's go!

Lots of people trying to get in before the game

Guess what! We made it there in time. We seriously booked it the whole way across the entire campus lugging around three 4 year olds with us and all the gear in clear bags (insert eye roll). Our clear bags (you know the clear bag policy, right?!?!) had diapers, wipes, Pull-ups, extra underwear, Ryan's cup, our tickets, our wallets, our sunscreen, hand sanitizer, etc, etc, I could go on. So when we got to the stadium, we carried Ryan in, checked our stroller at the gate (thank you, Clemson, for the stroller check!), made it up the incline to the upper deck, fought off a lot of whining for Skittles and popcorn concessions, walked up another bazillion stairs to our seats and.....exhaled. We were seriously exhausted and it wasn't even 12 noon yet.

See Thomas's hair? It was so hot and we were
so sweaty!

RyRy and mama

Also, once we got to our seats, I realized that I didn't change Ryan's diaper at the van before we left our parking spot, as I was planning to do. I was in such a rush to get going that I totally forgot. UGH. You know what that means? Wet shorts. Soaked through. At that point, I didn't even care. I just sat there with the wet shorts on my lap for like 10 minutes so I could catch my breath. Ryan didn't care either. We were just living the dream. So when my heart rate got back to normal, I trekked back down the bazillion stairs with Ryan and clear bag in tow, to try to find a family restroom to change him. As luck would have it, there AREN'T ANY family restrooms on the upper deck. Not kidding. I was walking around peeking into the restrooms, looking for a Koala changing station and nothing. I didn't even know what to think. Except that I wanted to throw the towel in and go take a nap somewhere. Also, Ryan is around 32 lbs so my arms were already hurting, just after holding him on the bazillion stairs. So I found an employee and asked about the family restroom and he took pity on my sweaty mess self and kindly escorted me to the suite level, via my request of an elevator (praise the Lord). He even told me I could help myself to some popcorn and cookies free of charge before I went back to my seats. The suite life is just that - sweet. It's just a liiiiiiiittle bit better than the upper deck. That's all. So Ryan's diaper was changed, no change of shorts though because I didn't have extras in the clear bag (sorry, RyRy),  I grabbed a few cookies in a napkin, stuffed them into the clear bag and went back up the elevator and a bazillion stairs and got to sit back down again. Stokes and William were already whining for snacks and potty breaks, but I let Thomas deal with that for a few minutes. I think he picked up some hot dogs, and snacks and some waters for us to share so there were a few more trips up and down the bazillion stairs, within the first 20 minutes of us being there. So, I just have to laugh when I see this picture below. Apart from Stokes looking miserable and Ryan flushed and sleepy (it was so hot and he was napping) and probably not happy with his wet shorts, we actually look kind of like we have it together. But after that story, you probably realize what a mess we actually were are! LOL #memories

Handsome boy at the game

The morning wore him out, too!
He had a nice little nap on Dada's shoulder.

These two took their shirts off and just wore undershirts because
we were feeling the heat!

Stokes selfie

William selfie

So we did enjoy the game for a little while. We made it through the first half. I did mention that it was homecoming, which means that all the fraternities and sororities had floats decorated on Bowman. I totally wanted the boys to experience that and see them. We had no chance of seeing them before the game, with our mad dash across campus, so we decided that one half of football was enough for us to see and we peaced out in favor of checking out the floats, and leisurely strolling back to our car to make our way home.

We stopped by Carole's tailgate spot in Lot 2 first to see our Tribe!

Tribe love

The boys love playing football with Rick

Then started the trek towards Bowman. One thing I haven't mentioned yet is that Ashley and her family were in Clemson for the game, too. She was there to hang out with her college friends, so we knew we probably wouldn't see her, and we had plans to see them all the following weekend, so we wanted to make sure that we didn't intrude on her time with her friends. BUT.....as soon as we got to Bowman field, who in the world did we run smack dab into?!?!!

No way!!!!

It was so crazy and amazing! Even though they had already walked around and looked at the floats, they did another round with us. The boys just love their cousins so much. It's awesome.

The floats looked great, as always, and they made some fun backdrops for pictures for me! There were lots of National Champions references on the floats. Yay!

Clemson cousins

The boys with Taylor and Anna

Ryan, my champion

Love this crew

Ashley held Ryan and gave our arms a break

We LOVED seeing our family right there in Clemson. The timing could not have been better. Once we said our goodbyes, we went back to our car and turned on the radio so we could hear the play by play on our drive home. The car ride was very peaceful and looked a little like this...

Sleepy boys

A prayer for next season - please let me think long and hard before taking all these boys to a game next season unless we have a handicapped ticket and Ryan's wheelchair. Amen.

GO TIGERS!