Another medical update

Today it was Philip's turn. At his last checkup the pediatrician noticed his eyes don't stay still, even when he is looking at something. We had thought this was just part of being a baby, but experienced eyes said otherwise.

Ironically, the pediatric opthamologist is literally next door to Jacob's neurologist. Sharon took all the kids with her and I got a good report on the older ones for good behavior. The doctor thinks his condition is most likely known as infantile nystagmus [sounds like nigh-stag-mus] syndrome. She prefers to call it congenital nystagmus because it is not simply an infant problem. This is a condition that doesn't go away but that most people who have it learn to compensate for. He can see well, the doctor said, but his eyes just won't stay still.

If this is indeed the explanation, we are told that people will find a certain direction to look at things where the nystagmus is least distracting. Hopefully this will be in front of them and pretty much straight ahead. For some, that "perfect spot" is off to the left or up above them, etc., which causes them to turn their heads or look in an odd angle whenever they try to see what they are looking at. In such cases, the doctors will do surgery to adjust that location so that it allows them to look in a more natural direction. We were told that around 6 months Philip should start holding things in a certain spot to look at them or to look at us; if this happens, this will be the confirmation that the infantile nystagmus is causing his eye movements.

Sharon told the doctor about Jacob's difficulties, but she didn't seem to think that Philip's condition was necessarily related.

I can't say we are starting to feel like Job yet, but give us a few more months and maybe we will. These doctor's visits are becoming a too-common occurence around here, but at least we have good doctors these days.

...on a related note, last night as we were tucking the kids into bed we were talking about today's appointment and the girls were talking about it, when Jacob broke in to say that "God doesn't make mistakes, he made Philip just the way he wanted him to be, and he made me just the way he wanted me to be." We've been saying that a lot lately for Jacob's sake, and he is beginning to pick up on the idea. We pray that it will truly become a way of thinking for him to prepare him for whatever challenges may lie ahead.