BEST Dr. Visit EVER

Today was Geri's 3 week checkup following the trubeculotomy on her left eye. We made a big effort to arrive early, as I have figured out that arriving about 30 minutes early means your appointment starts at it's scheduled time. On our way, we stopped off for a snack at Starbucks.

Backstory: Mera has been sick the last couple of days. Low-grade fever, and she puked ALL OVER me last night. Today her appetite was low and I wasn't about to push it, given her gastro-intestinal fireworks the evening before. So when she started asking for scones and applejuice, I was happy to oblige.

Now, if you've missed this tidbit of info from my previous posts, it is extremely relevant to know that Geri has so serious feeding issues. She does not chew food. She does not tolerate dry or crunchy or hard foods in her mouth. For a very long time she would only eat from a metal spoon. No forks. No plasticware. That's recently gotten a bit better, but progress in this area is slow. You'd be amazed at what she can eat, but the list of what she won't even touch is much longer.

Have I ever mentioned how stressful it is to have a child who doesn't eat normally? Yah, it's very stressful. Lots of rejected food, missed meals, careful planning to eat anywhere but home... Bringing back-up pudding cups of tapioca everywhere and a metal spoon. Not easy or fun.

So when we went through the 'Bucks to get a snack for sissy, I grabbed Geri a milk box and called it good. I was pleasantly surprised when Geri actually drank some of her milk while sitting in her car seat, and used the straw without complaint, and actually wanted to hold her drink and drink it while riding in the car. That's new. New is good.

So when we got to the eye doc and the tech was examining her, she ended up holding her sister's snack. It was a paper bag with a couple of the petite vanilla bean scones in it. I figured it would keep her entertained while the tech tried to get pressures, since she likes to take things out of bags and put them back in. Imagine my surprise when she pulled out one of the scones and started licking it!! She gummed that scone for probably five minutes, at least. She actually pulled at it with her front teeth, and when she got some crumbs in her mouth she didn't freak and she actually swallowed one little bit when it got soggy in her mouth!

This is enormous for her. Huge. I was about to cry in the doc's office. I could have done a freaking backflip, I was (and still am) so excited!

On top of that, she was super cooperative about all of the poking and prodding of the exam. The tech managed to get pressures on BOTH eyes (first ever), Dr. B got a good look at her retinas and a chance to look at her eyes with the lenses and get an idea of her prescription and our chances for correction. She was playing well with the toys and walking around and generally doing so well.

Wow. Then, at lunch, she ate her entire lunch from a metal fork. And last night, at dinner, she ate using my husband's fork as well. And when she tired of the fork at lunch, she switched to a plastic kiddie spork.

Progress in this area has been a long time coming, I must say. This part of her development has felt like a long, slow, uphill slog. We've been so spoiled by her progress in other areas that this one has felt like pulling teeth. Seeing progress was amazing. God is so GOOD!!!