Sunday, September 27, 2009

Daughter-in-law vision update

My daughter-in-law, Jackie Wenzelburger needs prayers. She has been blind since birth in one eye. Six months ago a virus attacked her one good eye and vision. They did surgery this spring, temporarily implanted a silicone bubble in her sighted eye to prevent her retina from detaching. A few weeks ago they did surgery on her blind eye, to remove a thick 35 year old calcified cataract. They knew she would not have any central vision in that eye, but amazingly she did have some peripheral vision.

Doctors hoped to remove the silicone bubble in a few weeks which would improve her vision. They concluded Friday that it is not possible, which means she will not drive again without some miracle or medical breakthrough.

They said that when they worked on her blind eye, they discovered that the scar pattern was identical to the scarring on her sighted eye. They believe that the virus was present at birth, causing her newborn blindness in that eye (not from receiving too much oxygen as a preemie.) The virus laid dormant in her system for 35 years and reoccured this year in her good eye. They decided that it is too risky to remove the silicone bubble because the virus is present in her system and may flare up again. So she has limited vision, and she must take anti-viral drugs for life. Now they've discovered that the steroid drops she had to use after surgery have caused a cataract on her "good eye". They intend to remove that before the holidays and hope to do no further damage. My heart is breaking for her. Please send prayers to heaven and good thoughts her way to uplift her spirits.

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