Patching: From Beginning to Now

The first 2 days of patching were the worst days I think I may have experienced in parenting.  That probably includes waiting for, and having surgery done, on M.  I knew that I had to patch her, and there was no choice.  I knew that I needed to patch her now that the cataract had been removed, or she wouldn't be able to see out of that eye ever.

She sat on the floor, unable to move around, wailing.  I carried her around wailing.  No matter what I did she cried.  She cried for hours, all day, for all the hours she was patched for those first 2 days.  I knew the way I could help her was to keep her patched, and just keep on going.  I knew it wasn't really helping her by giving up, taking the patch off because she was upset, or only do a little bit of patching.  Those 2 days were hard, almost unbearable to be in this house, with her crying and so obviously upset.

As long as those 2 days were, each day after that got easier.  It appeared as if she could see more and more each day.  She always needed me to be super close to her, and always needed to know where I was.  I suspect this was because she actually couldn't see where I was.  She would seem to get lost sometimes in our house; she would circle around crawling a few times in a spot and then start crying until I went to pick her up.

After a few days she started being able to crawl again - a little bit.  When she first started to crawl with her patch on she ran into our couch.  I used to have to nurse her all the time for comfort rather than for sustenance.

It's been about 3 months of patching for M.  Most days now are 'good' patching days.  You can say to her in the morning 'it's patch time' and she will stay still and let you put her patch on.  We used to have to pin her down, one person holding her while the other put on the patch.  She used to scream this whole time.  She rarely even attempts to rip at the patch during these first few minutes.  This has been a big change; for weeks the first 15 minutes after having the patch on her eye were the most likely times she would rip the patch off.  Some days we would go through 10-15 patches in those first 15 minutes.

M can now maneouvre around our house, avoiding most objects including walls, couches, tables, and little toys.  She can also get around our local library, grandparents' houses, and new locations.  She smiles and plays when she is wearing a patch, and the difference in her personality between when she is patched, and when she's not patched, is getting to be closer.

It seems like she has changed so much from those first few days of patching, when it seemed like she was literally blind when patched.  Some of those first few weeks I would put two patches on her, because I thought she must be peeking through a hole or crack somewhere because the changes in how she was getting around the house were so dramatic.  Despite multiple patches she still managed to get around, so I'm now pretty sure she wasn't peeking!

The changes have been so dramatic since we started.  She was so miserable and would fight the patch.  There were days she cried all day with the patch on.  There were days she ripped so many patches off her face, that her face was bleeding.  Everyday I put her patch on now is easier.  I still feel guilty for having to do it, but I know that it is helping, and her eyesight is changing.  I also know that because we have stuck with it over the past few months, we now have a little girl that is becoming accustomed to her patching and the future of her vision will likely be better because we have gone through these past 3 months.