Eye Eye Captain

Erasmus once said, "In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king", well, I am as blind as a doorpost and so was holding out much hope at Noah's recent eye test at St.Michael's House that he would at least be one-eyed and as such, the King of all around me. Noah is due in Crumlin Children's hospital in the next two weeks for a more detailed eye exam so this preliminary check-up would serve as an hors d'oeuvre for us to establish whether there were any major problems with Noah's eyes and as such, his sight.

The first task was for the doctor to apply some magic drops into each of Noah's peepers. They may have looked like ordinary eye drops, but the magic of this particular potion was that within a matter of minutes, they turned Noah's headlamps into something resembling the below...

After fifteen or so minutes and a rapidly expanding waiting room of overly wide-eyed children, we were taken back in for the assesment. Seeing the handheld light that the doctor was wielding and directing in his eyes, Noah clearly mistook this for a Vogue fashion shoot (or other such popular magazine, I'm not entirely down with what the kids are reading these days...) and duly posed over each shoulder much to the amusement of the doctor and particularly his Mummy and Daddy. To say he was a little charmer in the doctor's office would be to understate the sheer astonishing levels of flirting he managed to reach, Daddy was proud... ;o)

The doctor was pleased with how his eyes looked which was good news, she noted that there was the possibility of a slight turn in his right eye but only to come back in (earlier than his next appoinment in six months time) if we deemed it to be significantly noticeable. Having never noticed it in the first place, we were not overly concerned by this but will dutifully keep an eye on it so to speak. We both fully anticipate Noah having to wear glasses when he is older as the pair of us have to scrabble around for our specs first thing in the morning and so Noah will be doing considerably well to escape the clutches of our short-sightedness. Having Down Syndrome merely increases his already likely chances of having problems with his sight but in this instance, I personally think that he will be facing the same challenges as an extremely high majority of the population. Look around you at your peers, friends, family, colleagues etc and see who amongst them has perfect vision? Yes, some people are blessed with a perfect set of mince pies and all power to them but in a world where plain glass glasses (i.e. non-prescription glasses) are worn as fashion accessories, I don't think that poor eyesight carries the same social stigma that it perhaps once did. Maybe I'm wrong and just justifiying it for myself I don't know, but assuming that Noah has nothing more than short/long sightednesses to worry about I think we'll be ok on this one. On that note, I have included below a few links to some further information on the potential issues that persons with Down Syndrome may have with their vision, I would encourage you to take a few minutes out to browse through to see that there's potentially a lot more to it than reading letters off a chart on the wall...

http://www.dsmig.org.uk/library/articles/dsa-medical-series-6.pdf

http://www.cdadc.com/ds/eyesight-problems-treatment-and-down-syndrome.html

http://www.intellectualdisability.info/mental_phys_health/opthal_ds.htm

Stay tuned for the update from the Crumlin check-up and as they say round these parts, "I'll be talkin' to ya..."

"We'll take a cup of kindness yet...

...for auld lang syne." Happy New Year to one and all, welcome to 2009 and here's hoping that the turbulence of 2008 rescinds somewhat this year. Ching ching to that.

The festive season brought Noah into contact with those magnificent men in their flying machines en route to England for a Christmas at Granny and Granddad T's. Something I was dreading to be honest (the flying experience that is, not Granny and Granddad...) actually turned out as well as we could have hoped for, reasonably quiet airports, no screaming on the plane and no delays of any significant note (excluding Granddad T's attempts to get out of the car-park but that's for another day...) lead to a relatively stressless experience. A wonderful Christmas was had by all and similarly the New Year's jollies down in Co. Clare were also excellent. Most were enraptured by little Noah and his unbelievable growth in size, hair and reaction which we were delighted with. He is now at the charming stage of smiling on cue, laughing at Daddy (someone should be...) and generally being a whole bag o' cuteness. The below clip is taken from Christmas and shows Noah at his most delighted, in his Mummy's arms having a good old chuckle...

I have captured a few of the Christmas / New Year moments in the third volume of The Gallery, which can be accessed via the below link. Enjoy the pictures...

Browse the Gallery vol. 3...

The New Year to date has brought with it a stockpile of snuffles for Noah who is now sleeping in a Karvol paradise, a viral infection which had lead to three daily administrations of his whopper-sized inhaler (regular puffer with top Gun pilot style face mask and accompanying tube) and quite simply the runniest nose in Western Europe. Despite all this nasal-based unpleasantness, Noah has been in great form and can always be relied upon for a smile and a cuddle which are so desperately craved amidst the January blues. His physio is progressing well; he is now sitting up by himself, admittedly holding himself up with his arms but still some great progress. He is mastering the press-ups despite his protestations when he is put on the floor mat for his daily workout in the gym. Next stage is to master the crawling motions and see if he can propel his little frame across the floor unaided, we are realistically expecting a good few more months before this happens but if you're not optimistic yourself then who else is going to be for you? For my own part, I am resolving to writing a blog post at least every two to three weeks so you are fully entitled to hold me to that and lambaste me if I should not hold my end of the bargain. I will wrap up this post in the same manner in which it began, with the always relevant words of Robert Burns.

We two have run about the slopes,

and picked the daisies fine;

but we’ve wandered many a weary foot,

since auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,

from morning sun till dine;

But seas between us broad have roared,

since auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend!

And give us a hand o’ thine!

And we’ll take a right good-will draught,

for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We’ll take a cup of kindness yet,

For auld lang syne