I just wanted to take a second to say “Thanks so much!” for the emails of support that we’ve received since starting this blog. I don’t know how so many people have read it so quickly… but our story has touched some of you too. I thank you for the stories of encouragement and hope; for explaining, compassionately that “you’ve been there”; for letting us know that there is someone out there that goes through what we go through.
This nightmare is so rare… there just aren’t many people (especially – locally) who can relate, empathize, or even come close to understanding what this all entails… It is so hard to share – even with our close friends and family. And it is even harder to ‘bear’ alone.
So… Thanks again.
I would like to share snippets of the emails I received (I hope you don’t mind)… but I will, of course, honor the privacy of the person’s who sent it. I will not allow the names included in the emails to be put here. I just think they are worth sharing. Maybe, someone else out there is having some of the same trials and tribulations… and it would be nice to see the warmth and understanding the rest of us have for each of us going through this. So… here are a couple of snippets from the responses I received:
“I can’t tell you how much your story relates to ours. As I read your blog, all the emotions and frustrations that my husband and I have experienced with our son came flooding back, and I couldn’t help but sit and read and cry along with you. Glaucoma is such a horrible sentence, and I suppose someone else would say there is alot worse things that our children could have. All I know is what we deal with daily, but I just wanted to give you an update on my son, in the hopes that it may give you and your wife some hope as well. …We were given the same option, Valve implants. Nothing else had worked and (after) 11 surgeries his pressures were still high. Round the clock drops and patching were our life. At 18 mos. our doctor decided implants would be our best bet. We were crushed. I could not bear the thought of anything foreign in my child’s eye. But, I am here today, 9 years later, telling you that the implants have been a blessing. We saw instant results. We still have to maintain a drop regimen, but all in all the implants by far have been the best thing that could have happened to our son. I wish we had chose them right from the start… Again, I just wanted to write you and your wife to let you know that there is hope. Eventually, you will settle into a routine of acceptance, this is not to say that you won’t have worries and concerns, but life will get easier.”
And another wrote:
