more minneapolis shots

these were taken at the guthrie theater + the walker

art shanties

i know everyone wants jasper pics, but i thought i'd share some shots of my short trip to minneapolis last week. my good friend since third grade, john marmion, took me to see the sights and sounds of his adopted town. i was there for one night. instead of a local tavern, he took me to the art shanty's on medicine lake. here we are in the kareoke shanty singing a few U2 songs. note, although it was nice inside the shanty, it was -30 degrees with wind chill and we were in the middle of a lake singing sunday bloody sunday with local beer called surly.

faq

mara + i thought a good post would be to list the questions we commonly get asked or sometimes people are even afraid to ask.

what actually happened? on news year morning, jasper was swinging an empty christmas wrapping tube like a baseball bat. he lost his balance, and fell into a closet door metal hinge.

will he be able to see out of the eye? it's too early to know for certain. mara + i stopped asking that question to the docs abit ago because there are still many hurtles jasper has to jump before we know for certain. so far, the procedures to regain as much as we can have all been successful. the laceration was right down the center, from top to bottom, in the middle of the field of vision. hence, the scar is currently blocking the view. the last step, once the surgeries are complete, will be rehabilitating the eye by patching the good one (forcing him to strengthen the bum one). the fear at the moment, is that since he is so young, the brain is still developing the neurons and connections from the brain to the eye. since he is not seeing anything from the eye currently, the brain has already begun to shout down messages to the eye and allow his good one to dominate. this is commonly referred to as a "lazy eye". the rehabilitation might prove to be the hardest, yet most important factor in getting him to see from the eye.

can he see out of the eye now? no. we've been told it might be months before he will regain any sight- even light and dark. however, its still a bit uncertain.

in earlier posts, you mentioned cataracts? yep, this is not such a concern anymore because the doctors are fairly confident jasper lost his lens in the accident. since some of the inner fluid leaked out from the laceration, the lens was punctured and most likely was lost entirely. cataracts deal with the lens. jasper will most likely be outfitted with a contact lens to make up for this.

what is a retina tear again? basically, the way i understand it is that the eye is like a camera. you've got the front part thats the lens/aperature and the retina in the back is the film. the nerves hook into the retina which then delivers the signals to the brain. in jasper's case, trama to the eye which has resulted in scar tissue, is the cause of a possible tear or detachment. take a peek here to see a diagram.

when will jasper start wearing glasses? most likely in a few weeks after the next surgery to remove the stitches. the main function of the glasses will be to protect the good eye in case of another accident. we found this site which shows what glasses are available.

will jasper wear a pair that looks like his dad so they can look even more like each other? yep.

are the doctors good? yes, we feel we are in very good hands at children's hospital's eye vision center. the retina specialist who operated last week and we saw today is Dr. Lee. mara + i cant say enough great things about him. the cornea specialist who we saw first when we flew back was Dr. Song, who will take over phase 2, the cornea repair. Dr. Song is the one who called us in Puerto Rico and even gave us his cell to call back with anymore questions.

does jasper open the bad eye? not really. the most he has ever opened it is about 20-30%. this is normal according to the doctors.

is he in any pain? up until the last week, his eye only hurt when we hold him down to place eye drops. the past week he's been trying to itch the eye and becomes a bit hysterical when he can't. the doc is not concerned and believes this is part of the healing process.

is he on any medicine? yep, 4 times a day we need to place an antibiotic ointment in his eye. needless to say, he doesn't enjoy this and it isnt easy for us to do. we will most likely have to place this ointment for another month or so. we also place drops which aid the pupil.

is there anything we can do to help? mara + i feel so blessed to have the friends and family we do. at the moment, we are asking for prayers for his recovery, strength, and patience.

so i hope these answer everyone's questions. but if not, dont hesitate to ask in the comments.

update

another great doc appointment! today, we met with the doctor (who did the vitrectomy last week) who confirmed that the eye is not infected and the retina is still attached! all great news and exactly what we wanted to hear. essentially, now jasper can progress to phase 2, which will begin to deal with the cornea.

the appointment was a little rough on our poor boy. in order to see the eye, we had to strap him in a super powerful velcro harness and i had to hold his head while the doctor placed a small metal forceps to open the eye lids. even the doctor was surprised at jasper's strength. needless to say, jasper didn't enjoy this. once it was all over (a long 3 minutes) he was one sweaty kid from the screaming and moving.

we have another follow up appointment next friday to again check the infection and retina status and possibly discuss the next surgery. the best news is that we were able to wash his hair tonight! (sorry, forgot the camera so no photos of the visit.)

jasper around the house

i've been meaning to do a little movie for him and finally mustered the time and energy to do it. took this footage on saturday morning and edited it on sunday night. on the very first shot in this piece, i turned the camera viewer so he could see himself. he's never flinched looking at the patch in the mirror. i think the first time he saw it was in the airplane bathroom. when we were flying back from PR, mara + i had to both fit in there to give him the eye drops. i remember he paused when he saw himself in the small mirror.

i thought it was great at the end when we asked where his eyes are, and he points to his patch.

one happy kid

jasper woke up this morning in a very good mood. he could care less that he's got one eye working right now.

follow up doc appointment

things looked good this morning. jasper slept into nearly 9am, a 13 hour night, and woke up in a great mood. an ultrasound confirmed the retina is still attached which is great news, although jasper is not out of the woods yet. the retina can still pull off over the next month or so. we now have to put an ointment in the eye four times a day along with more drops as well as keep him calm. infection and the retina are the main concerns at this point. we have another appointment next friday to check both.

here is a pic of the eye without any patch. the swelling is considerably less than the first surgery. while the doctor stepped out to start up the ultrasound, we showed jasper an anatomical eye model, he pointed to his patch and then the model. he smiled when mara placed it on the eye.

surgery report

This most simple answer is today’s surgery was a success!

The surgery was, in many ways, a preventive measure to keep the retina attached. Of the many options that the doctors had, they proceeded with the vitrectomy. This is where they try to reduce the amount of blood in the retina to prevent scar tissue to form. They were able to see the back of the eye which is the most important view to see if the retina is still attached. They were happy to report that the retina does seem to be holding nicely. Hence, they did not proceed with a scleral buckle. Although there is some scar tissue forming, at this point it is not enough to force the retina to tear off. This was terrific news. To be honest, it was extremely hard to pull back the tears of joy. To boot, while they examined the eye under the microscope, the doctors were able to see that the stitches, done on news year’s day to close up the eye, are healing nicely.

In addition, the docs described that his pupil was extremely small and that sight was virtually closed off in the eye. Today, they stretched the pupil open and from what I understand, the pupil will remain permanently large.

Since this was the first time the US doctors were able to see the eye under a microscope, they were able to see how long and big the laceration is. The cornea specialist was not needed for today’s operation, however the retina specialist today is confident jasper will need a cornea transplant in the near future. He will have another surgery within 2 months to remove the stitches and the transplant might take place then.

Although we arrived at 7:30am this morning, the surgery before us took a great deal longer and jasper was not wheeled into surgery until 1:30pm. The hardest part about this was holding off jasper’s hearty morning appetite. He was not permitted anything to eat since last night’s dinner before surgery. Although we were able to walk the corridors to pass the time, instead of waiting in a room the whole morning, the smell of McDonalds in the halls and a coffee kiosk with good looking chocolate croissants didn’t help our cause. Besides the wait, our experience at children’s hospital has been nothing but exceptional.

By far the most amazing part to see is this kid walking around at home within hours after the surgery. By 6:30pm, he had slightly opened his good eye and was saying “hambre” (Spanish for hunger). He promptly wolfed down a stack of crackers, two cartons of apple juice, 1 1/2 french toasts, a whole apple and some soup. Shortly afterwards, he got up and began stumbling around looking for his toys. Simply amazing since anyone over 30 would be still on their back in bed…moaning.

Lastly, while Mara held jasper in the recovery room on her chest, our baby girl starting kicking away at him inside mara’s belly. It was as if she was sending him a message: “Keep kicking away!”

My only regret is i forgot my camera early this morning. Hence, i didnt capture many of the sights of the day. They'll remain inside of me.

We return tomorrow at 10am for a post op examination. Thank you again for all the kind words, thoughts, and prayers.

tomorrow is a big day

mara got the call from Children's Hospital. we are to report in the main lobby at 7:30am for a 10am surgery. I hope to have internet access at the hospital to let everyone know the latest as soon as we hear.
thank you all once more for your prayers, thoughts, and help.

pics from PR

it was a little painful going through these shots of him days before the accident, but i quickly realized his personality hasnt changed one bit.

NC swan

these shots were taken a few days after christmas. mara took the one with me in frame.

pics from NC

pics from NC + PR

there's a bunch of pics i never had a chance to upload that i took before the accident. i recently had a chance to go through them and pick some to show.

balloons!

shadedbox's representation, the gotham group, sent over an amazing arrangement of balloons. thank you!

update

jasper was examined today by three different eye doctors at children’s hospital. Another ultrasound was performed along with as much of an examination as jasper would allow.

The retina specialist is the doctor who will perform the bulk of the surgery on Tuesday and hence, we meet with him about what is to take place. First, an examination of the eye will take place to see how the cornea has healed and if the retina is still attached. The big fear is that scar tissue, which grows so fast in young toddlers, will detach the retina.

The fact that kids heal so fast is awesome for every part of their body…except for the eyes. And the doctors prepared us for the fact that the retina still may become detached and future surgeries will be needed to reattach it through lasers. It’s a bit of game as the scar tissue will try and battle back to remove it again.

Once the examination is done while he is under anesthesia, judgment calls will be made on the rest of the day. They may make revisions to the cornea on the stitches made the day it happened. If there is still a great deal of blood behind the eye, they will perform a vitrectomy which will attempt to clean out the blood from the retina. They may put in an artificial bucket object around the eye to aid the retina. In addition, silicon oil may be placed around the eye which would lubricate and help the retina from detaching in the future. This silicon fluid would need to be removed 6-9 months from now in another surgery.

The doctor explained he is a very conservative and he does not operate unless he feels the benefits outweigh the risks. The risks and complications of Tuesday’s surgery are as follows: he could begin bleeding in the eye, although he already has. He could develop a cataract, but this could be fairly easily fixed. He could get an infection, which can be easily preventable. The surgery can accidentally detach the retina. Jasper could develop high eye pressue, but this can be corrected with drops. He could acquire something called tysis, which would shrink the eye, dramatically hurting the chances of improved sight. This is rare and if happened, could be cosmetically fixed with a lens. Lastly, he could get something called Sympathetic Ophthalmia. This is also rare, however the worse case scenario. As I understand it, this symptom attacks the immune system and goes after the good eye. Hence, we would be taking a few steps backward.

The doc went on to explain that jasper’s life will not be affected at all with the loss of sight or limited vision from one eye. He described how the eyes are designed to be redundant and that his brain will very quickly adapt to just one…and be perfectly happy. He described many of his patients who have excelled in life, education, and sports. He also noted that living in the US, its better to be sighted in his left eye than right when driving. The only things jasper will be prevented from doing are: join the armed forces (sorry uncle ben), drive a commercial big rig, and fly commercial airlines. Otherwise, the world is still his to conquer. He can even get a small plane pilot license. He explained this not as an excuse to leave his eye alone, but to reassure us that jasper life will be virtually unimpeded by this accident. He said they are committed to do everything in the kitchen sink to get the eye back to normal.

Since jasper suffered an uveal prolapse, which means a great deal of the eye was hurt and suffered trama, the future prognosis is still unclear. This Tuesday is the biggest day for his young life. He is scheduled to be the second patient for the day around 10am.

The most amazing thing happened tonight. As we were putting him to bed after a bath, I went to place his eye patch on my face to try and make light of the fact he has to wear this thing. He was upset, yelled for me to take it off and place it back on his face. I remember so vividly seeing him come out of surgery with the protective cover on and saying to myself: the second jasper wakes up, he’s gonna rip that thing clear off his face. Quite the contrary. Mara thinks he find security and protection in it. Even seeing himself in the mirror for the first time after wards, he didn’t even question it.

Once more, thank you for all your prayer and thoughts. Mara and I feel them. Many people we’ve talked to or have had to break the news to, mention how calm and strong we seem. Im confident it is the prayers. Im also confident it’s the fact that jasper has not stopped a beat. As ive written before, he could care less he can only see out of one eye currently. He’s still the same exact jasper inside. His strength has given us all of ours.

daily pics

22 weeks and one day

in other news, mara had an ultrasound today and everything looks awesome. The due date still stands at May 15th. however, since jasper was a c-section, this one will be a c-section as well. this time it will be a planned one. hence, they deliver them a bit early so the date will most likely be May 6th. any votes for a cinco de mayo baby?

jasper looked a little worried when they nurse started strapping a blood pressure sleeve on mara, but settled down when we showed him his baby sister kicking away on the screen.

update

The doc appointment with the cornea specialist went very well today. Thank you again for all your prayers.

Here is the latest: there is still a considerable amount of blood inside the retina. The cornea specialist today feels this is most likely due to the fact the laceration was deep enough to puncture the lens, allowing for blood to enter the inside of the eye. Chances are that now the natural lens is completely gone. However, according to the doctor, to replace the lens with an artificial one is not a huge concern.

The real concern is that the body will try and absorb the blood in the eye through scar tissue. This is dangerous since scar tissue will increase the chances of the retina detaching. Considering jasper’s age, he will form scar tissue much faster than say, a 10 year old. Allowing the retina to detach is the worse case scenario. Hence, jasper will have a surgery this Tuesday to basically clean out the eye and by doing so will reduce the chances of detaching to 5-10%. We are meeting with a retina specialist on Friday to discuss this surgery.

6-8 weeks later, jasper will have another surgery to remove the stitches used to seal up the eye last week. At the point, a judgment call will be made to see how well the scar has healed. Since the laceration is directly in the center of the eye and field of vision, it’s important that is heals as thin as possible. If it hasn’t by then, the doctor might perform a cornea transplant from a donor.

Then, the ball is essentially in ours and jasper’s hands. We will have to patch jasper’s good eye for a few hours a day until the age of eight in order to force him to use his bum eye. If not, there is a considerable risk that the brain will begin to stop using the bum eye…creating a “lazy eye”. When we reach the age of eight, supposedly the mind solidifies its motor coordination with the eyes.

Lastly, jasper will be outfitted with a pair of glasses soon. This will do 2 main things: get him accustomed to wearing glasses and protect the other good eye, God forbid he has another accident.

We got the green light to give jasper a bath tonight. He didn’t want to get out. The best part about today is now we have a game plan. We know what to expect for the most part, can prepare for the future, and we received plenty of answers to our questions and concerns.

Thank you to everyone that has been keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

daily pics

i found jasper by the window early sunday morning. he was in a calm, peaceful state. it was if he was reflecting on the past week and aware he was now back home. i ran for my camera + captured some of the best shots i've ever taken. after opening them up on my computer, i was struck at the strength you can see in his eye.

teddy bear + ballons!

when we walked in the door...

when mara + i returned on saturday, as we were approaching our door after traveling all day, mara told me: "joey, i need a half an hour to dust and clean jasper's room and we need to go to the supermarket because there is nothing in the fridge to eat." we opened the door and something felt off, a little different. jasper ran to his room where he found a teddy bear twice as big as him, accompanied with balloons..his favorite. There were fresh flowers in each room, food in the cabinets + fridge, + the entire place was cleaned top to bottom. not only had my sister jessica organized a service to take us home from LAX, but along with some dear friends, and i mean dear, had snuck in before we came home. needless to say we had wet eyes again...but this time of relief. i snapped this pic quickly after jasper discovered his present.

jasper is back

one might think nothing ever happened to this kid. he is running, jumping, and skipping around much to our nervous eye. his constant smile is back...and even his stubborn attitude.