While we were in Utah in October, I noticed that Zoe's eye began to look "different" sometimes when she focused on me - the eyeball just seemed to turn inward and upward a bit. Not all the time, just occasionally. I didn't think much about it and initially didn't even pay close attention to whether it was the right or left eye. Then I began to notice it more regularly and realized it was her right eye.
Also, while we were in Utah we compared Zoe's gross motor skills to those of her same-aged female cousins... they were much more advanced than she was with things like climbing. (We have always had concerns with what we thought were gross motor issues and Zoe has received physical therapy for various things the past year and a half.) We recently tried to make Zoe practice going down stairs, leading with her right foot - she couldn't do it... but we still made her try... Little did we know that she was blind in her right eye, lacked depth perception, and couldn't see where to put her foot. (kick in the gut)
Some time after getting back to Virginia in November, we noticed that the shape of Zoe's eye socket had seemed to change slightly and her right eye began to bulge out a little bit. Shortly after, Zoe started to complain of headaches - something she hasn't ever done before. For four days in a row the headache was in the same place - by her bulging right eye.
As soon as the headaches started happening, we really began to get concerned. Sean's younger brother had a brain tumor when he was little and things were sounding eerily familiar. We felt like hypochondriac parents but knew we needed to have things checked out. We met with Z's wonderful pediatrician on Friday, January 7th. We are so, so grateful that he didn't dismiss our concerns as some doctors would likely do. He scheduled an appointment for us to meet with the opthalmologist on Tuesday the 11th (the 11th was Sean's birthday - it was a heck of a birthday!).
I went to the opthalmologist thinking they may tell me my kid had lazy eye or something - not a big deal... The technician met with us first, asking me the history of concerns and then did an initial eye test. After covering Zoe's left eye, the technician projected a picture about two feet tall onto the wall and asked Zoe to tell her what it was. Zoe said she couldn't see it. My response was, "Zoe you need to cooperate. Just pay attention. Look at the picture in front of you - tell her what it is..." (again, kick in the gut) After a couple more attempts, still no luck. The technician said, "She can't see them, mom." I felt sick, but didn't really grasp what was going on yet - I just figured that she had really bad eye sight in that eye. So... we met with the opthalmologist... same test, same response. When HE told me that Zoe could not see anything I lost it... How could I miss the fact that she had no vision in one of her eyes? I'm with her constantly - how could I miss that? Then came the next test... they dilated her eyes so the opthalmologist could look at the optic nerve and into the back of her eye. He could tell that something was on the optic nerve and pressing into her eyeball. He sent us directly to the hospital...
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