Free Vision Screening

I highly recommend getting your kids eyes checked by three-years-old. This is what was recommended by our pediatric ophthalmologist. Due to Tate's experience, Logan and Carter have already been checked and will continue to have yearly eye exams. Tate sees his ophthalmologist every six months to check his good eye and his surgeon every year.

This is a link to free vision screening in the Portland, Oregon area.

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2009/10/post_7.html

Tate's Last Day of Preschool

He is so handsome!
Memphis and Alex. Alex is in Tate's Kindergarten class this year.

Tate and Nickolas.

Jacob and Kaden.

Trevor, Tate, Mrs. Wooding, Memphis and Jacob.

This was a VERY emotional day for me for some reason. I kept crying all day long. Maybe it was the reflecting of the year we had made it through...and WE DID...we made it through! I feel so blessed that we didn't lose our little boy. He is doing so great. I am looking forward to this summer and spending lots of time with my family, relaxing and taking every minute of my family's life in.

OHSU Casey Eye Institute Easter Egg Hunt

We were invited to the CEI Easter Egg Hunt because Tate is a patient there. They put this on every year for the kids. It was so much fun!

Logan gets a little shy whenever there is a lot of people around.

Tate LOVES all the people.

Brad with Chunky Monkey.

The boys with the Easter Bunny.

They had a bounce house and a petting zoo and all these games.

Being that it is an Eye Center, they had an Easter Egg for the seeing impaired. The eggs actually beeped so that the children who could not see could find the eggs. They invited other children to be blind folded and try it out. Tate was all over that.

Tate had his face painted after he saw another little boy with this. This is actually a really good picture of Tate prosthetic eye...it is obviously the one with out red eye.

Being silly with the boys.

We have been so happy with how Tate's prosthetic eye has turned out. The color was matched perfectly. I am so amazed at the process. We go in for adjustments and buffing to keep it shiny. As Tate's eye socket grows he will have new eyes made. And, no, your eye does not not grow, just the eye socket.

Another interesting piece of information: you might wonder what one might use on a prosthetic if it is dry. Not eye drops, but oil. The recommend Saffola (oil) from the neighborhood grocery store. We just put a drop on our finger and touch his eye and it works its way in.

Flying Eyes

After Tate had been up to see Kevin and his surgeon and doctor at OHSU he was worn out. His eye was irritating him a lot which caused him to rub it a lot. Once again he woke up and it was turned upside down and looking funky.

Tate's options before we headed off to school were to let me spin it or to take it out and put it back in. He seemed to think that it would hurt to spin, so he wanted to take it out and put it back in. By the way, they draw a small picture on the top of the eye so you know which side is up. I can't tell you what Tate picked, it is a secret, but if you ask him, he just might tell you.

We got the eye out fine and then I had it in (still with the suction thing on it) and Tate went to grab the suction thing to pull it off and there goes Tate's eye flying across the kitchen floor. Wow, never in my wildest dreams would I ever imagine that I would be in that kind of a situation. I stayed calm chasing after a very expensive eye. Tate wasn't very happy with me. We did get in and off to school we went.

The Lab at OHSU & The Pooping Moose

Tate and Logan got a treat from a pooping moose. You can see the moose in the picture below off to the right. It poops out M&Ms. The boys LOVED it!

This is Logan and Tate with the lady that works at the lab. Tate wanted to visit the lab to see where his eye went.

When we first found out about Tate losing his eye, they gave us a book to read to him. After we finished the book, we asked him if we should remove his sick eye. He responded by saying, "if the doctor thinks so." After he had a couple of days to think about it, he would come up with more questions for us. He asked if we got to take his eye home. No, I told him, it goes to the lab where they test it to see what kind of sickness you have. We were lucky enough to go visit the lab.

Prosthetic Eye Making

First Tate had to take out his eye to make a mold out of the eye socket. He is holding his temporary eye. They used a suction thing to pull it out.

Kevin, our ocularist, first made molds out of the inside of our hands. Then he made one out of Tate's eye socket. This felt weird and Tate wasn't too happy about it but it was better than putting him to sleep to have it done. It is like getting a mold made of your teeth.
Once the mold was made, we came back that afternoon to have Kevin match the eye color. We then came back the next day to pick up his new eye. The color matches perfectly and it brought tears to my eyes to see Tate and he was so excited too! We have been back twice already to have adjustments. It is quite the process.

Logan's take on Tate's Eye...

You often wonder what might be going on it a 2&1/2 year old's head. After Sunday and not being able to get Tate's eye turned, we really wanted to get it turned before he went to school. As we were trying to talk him into letting us do it, Logan came up to me. He likes to play this game where he pretends to go to work and rides off on his little car and then he pretend to come home. So, Logan comes up to me and says, "Bye Mom! I'm going to the doctor." I said, "Okay honey. See you later." As he is walking to his little car, he says, "I'm going to get my EAR turned."

The Evil Eye

To some, okay to most,this might be news, but a prosthetic eye has a right side up. Well, Tate's got spun in the wrong direction and it looked freaky! So, we tried to fix it but we didn't know what to do! This is all new to us! So, it was before church and I told Tate that he needed to let me fix it or people at church might think that it looked funny. He still didn't want me to fix it so I left it alone. Right before we walked out the door, he decided that he wanted his eye patch. I was cool with that and off we went. People looked and asked Tate questions but he just resonded that he didn't want to talk about it. Then came Sunday School...well, apparently somebody interupted Tate and that made him mad. Tate proceeds to tell this boy NOT to interupt and then he finishes his statement by pulling up his eye patch and sticking his eye right in the boy's face. Sure showed him...gave him the evil eye!

Mom takes Tate's Stitch Out!

So, it is Monday and Tate goes back to school on Tuesday. His stitch is STILL not out and so of course I make a call to his surgeon. He tells me that the stitch is probably mush now and if I just pry open his eye it should come right open. So...here we go...Dr. Mom. I sat Tate on the toilet seat with my compact mirror. I used my tweezers and grabbed the knot at the top of the stitch. First Tate wanted me to do the other eye first so he could see what it felt like. He was ready. I got a hold of the stitch and a quick pull and it was out. Tate flinched and that was it. He looked at his eye and then RAN to show Logan his new eye. He loved that it looked real. I was really sad because I thought that this would match better. Tate looked in the mirror and asked why they were different colors and I just explained that this one is temporary until his eye finishes healing and then he will get a prosthetic to match better.

This eye is called a "conformer" or "space saver." This was put in to hold a space while everything healed up. It is like a big contact lens. They used to put in this clear "contact lens" that was a lot less pretty and then most kids would wear and eye patch. Tate will have a prosthetic made in about 5 more weeks.

I went to school today with Tate and the kids did not seem to notice. A few of them kind of would stare at Tate and I could just see their little brains thinking...something about him is different, but I can't quite figure it out. When he wears his glasses it is even less noticable. I was pretty upset that it didn't match more. My mom came over to check it out and she said that it was a really pretty eye, it just didn't match. She cracks me up.

Christmas Morning

Carter's First Christmas.

Brad made the boys a kitchen and Logan got some food and was SO excited. Thank you Fellers!

This was one of Tate's favorite presents (from Carter)...it is a six foot long race track. It is so much fun! And yes, Tate's eye is STILL sewed shut.

I so enjoyed this Christmas more than I normally do. I loved just sitting back and watching my boys, so thankful that I have all of them and that they are healthy.

I think this is the only picture I managed to snap of Brad. He is such a camera hog!

Snow Day #2

That was in the middle of our cul de sac. Our neighbor plows a huge mountain in the middle that lasts forever. The kids love it. Church was once again canceled. The snow really didn't stop all week.

School was canceled all week. Tate was ready to play! Eye was still sewed shut but he didn't seem to mind.

Eye Patch Off and GOOD NEWS!

Last night was a rough night for us. Tate was going in to see his surgeon and he would take his bandage off, if it had not fallen off already. We thought that it would be better to do it the night before. Tate was really upset. I think it was comforting to have that on. After meeting with the surgeon (everything looked great), we ran into Tate's doctor. He had just received a call from pathology telling him that Tate did not have retinoblastoma...it confirmed that he had Coats Disease. We could not have asked for better news!! I guess Tate's eye was in such bad shape that he was really surprised that it had not started causing him pain. Tate does still have a stich in his eye that should disolve soon.

Snow Day & Freezing Eyes...

Church was cancelled because of snow and Logan could not wait to get outside. This was only three days after Tate's surgery and he didn't want to try and go outside because he thought his eye would freeze.
So we set him up downstairs in our master bedroom next to the sliding glass door.

Logan was freezing...it was so windy.

Brad made Tate a snowball...

Then he wrote his name in the snow. I had to turn the camera sideways to get it.

Brad again made Tate a snowball and of course Tate threw it at him.

Tate's MRI and Surgery

Tate's MRI. He did great as usual. He is amazing with the doctors and nurses. Tate was pretty excited about getting pictures of his eyes and brain. He thought that it was really cool. They first put a numbing solution on the tops of his hands and wrapped them. This is so they can insert the IV in there without him freaking out. He once again had a cocktail and off to sleep he went. The MRI took about two hours. Brad and I ate a nice meal (they have good food at OHSU) and then sat with Tate as he woke up.

December 10th.
We received great news today that his optic nerves look great which means, if it is cancer, it has not moved into the brain. They confirmed that there was a build up of calcium which often means cancer but they will not know for sure until pathology comes back.

December 11th
This was one of the hardest days I have ever experienced. I did fine before his surgery but having him wake up and be in so much pain was horrible. I could barely hold it together as Brad sang to him to try and calm him down. His doctor came in and asked him how he was doing and he gave him the thumbs up. He has such a good attitude.

In the next few days, it was really hard as well. The pain meds hurt Tate's stomach so he was throwing up all the time...or at least trying. Once we got that under control he seemed to be doing fine. He actually liked visitors. I thought that he would be shy, but once he realized he had a patch on and people couldn't see his eye, he was okay with it. Under the patch, his eye was sewed shut and for 2 or 3 days he wouldn't open his other eye. I don't blame him though! Everyday got a little better. Brad's mother had come out for the baby blessing and ended up staying an extra week to help out. We could not have made it through without her! I cried when she left overwhelmed with what would lie ahead.

More bad news...Tate's Eye Exam #3

I just wanted to let you know how today went. In the last three months Tate's eye has gotten a lot worse. There are a lot of calcium deposits which could be from retinoblastoma (cancer). Tate will be having a MRI on Tuesday (it was on the 15th but they have moved it up) to look for any tumors and to take a better look at his optic nerves to make sure they are the same. No matter the findings, Tate will have surgery. The retina is damaged beyond repair and it will soon start to cause him pain because of the excess fluid in there. Tate has no idea yet and has recovered today better than the two times before. I have a lot of hope and I know that our Heavenly Father will not give us more than we can handle or that Tate can handle. We love you and appreciate all your love and support.

Random Halloween Pics

The boys are making "bugs" for our Family Halloween Party. Mound candy bars were the body. We used chocolate frosting to put on any kind of small candy (nerds, etc.) and then pretzels for the legs. It was so messy, but so much fun. I don't think anyone ate any either!

And here is Batman and Robin...thanks Aunt Jannah for getting our costumes for us! As Tate would say, "They are totally awesome!"
This picture makes me laugh because, with Tate's disease and no vision in his left eye, he really only has to make sure the mask is center over his right eye.

Here is everyone that dressed up for the party. My mom crack me up! Nicole in the pink was an over worked, under appreciated mom...she has a bottle of NyQuil in her pocket.

My brother Joe always makes the Root beer....made a little too much.