Another Update On Lamar's Eye

It's just after 8 pm my time as I'm typing this. Jessica drove Lamar's Mom's car and they rode in the front while Lamar and I rode in the back seat. We left our apartment at 11 am and made good time, arriving at Lamar's eye specialist's office about 12:15 pm.

Lamar's appointment wasn't until 1 pm but we wanted to have some extra time to allow for heavy traffic or other delays. As it happened, we didn't actually see the doctor until 3:30, but isn't that the way it usually goes?

As we hoped, Lamar's eye looks much better, according to the tests they performed in the office and what the doctor saw when he examined Lamar's eye. The pressure in his bad eye was down to 5 and 10 in his good eye, which are excellent numbers.

That's the good news.

The bad news? They still have no idea what is wrong with Lamar's eye, how long this may last or if it will later affect another part of his body. Lamar's taking an antiviral and they're assuming that since his eye is getting better that it must be some form of virus, but at this point they're not even certain of that.

Lamar has to call the virologist that he saw back in the Summer when this all started with his eye, and we may be making another trip to Memphis soon to see the virologist. We're assuming that she may want to draw blood for more tests, but we won't know about that until later.

Also, there's a possibility that Lamar may have to have surgery on his eye again, but that's still to be determined. The eye specialist is the one pushing for the surgery, but the eye surgeon is hesitant and we're a little hesitant about another surgery as well.

For one thing, Lamar couldn't tell much difference in his vision after the other surgery, and every surgery has risks of infection and other complications.

Also, if this is going to keep happening to Lamar's eye, why go through this every few months? Eventually the scarring from the surgeries will harm more than it helps.

As you can imagine, we are still dealing with more questions than answers. So much uncertainty and it's weighing on us every day, especially Lamar.

Another thing is the medicines that Lamar is taking every day. He is taking prednisone by mouth along with the antiviral and two more forms of prednisone eye drops, as well as a drop that keeps his eye dilated to ease the pressure in his eye.

Lamar has been on prednisone constantly since May and this can't continue indefinitely. Pred has many side effects with long term use, and one is suppression of the immune system, which is definitely something that Lamar doesn't need at this time.

One of the main reasons for seeing the virologist is to see if she can prescribe an anti-inflammatory that has the same benefits of prednisone without the side effects. Lamar will call her office in Memphis on Wednesday to try to set up an appointment with the virologist, if she thinks it's necessary.

Lamar will see the eye specialist again on Friday at the Jonesboro office, so we may get more news then, but we're not holding our breath. We hope to get answers, but it's so frustrating to still be without any real answers after all this time.

Lamar's problems with his eye began on May 13th and we're no closer to having a diagnosis and treatment plan now, almost 6 months later to the day, than we were back in May. And that's after countless tests, visits to eye doctors and specialists, virologists and eye surgeons, one surgery and a pharmacy full of drugs!

But, we know that God is in control, and the Great Physician will work all this out according to His will, not ours.

Please keep praying and thinking those good thoughts for us. You'll never know how much we appreciate those who are lifting us up in prayer daily before God's throne. I pray God's richest blessings on all of you, dear family and friends.

That's about all I can share right now, but if we learn anything new I'll post another update as soon as I can.

I hope everyone is having a great week.