Duane Syndrome

I understand that most people have no clue what that is, I did not know until my youngest was diagnosed with that around 9 months old. We have gone through so much these past 3 years of dealing and understand Duane's. He had surgery over a year ago, and before that surgery, I was a nervous wreck. I mean to the point of the day before I could not sleep I was so filled with worries that should not have been there, that he was not going to wake up, or his surgeries were going to make him worse off. Still, we prayed, and I laid it all down to God and believed he would make it out alright, his eyes would improve, and his other situation that he was having surgery would be better because of the surgery. Finally, at the hospital, we also prayed for a miracle to be seen by the doctors. During the whole process, it was scary for the two surgeries took longer than expected because of unexpected complications. The doctors talked to us after both, and they both were not that hopeful with their prognosis. As we left his eye doctor caught us on the elevator, he called out to our son, and he looked at him with both eyes. His left eye that before was stuck before the midline is not just beyond. He was ecstatic, and told everyone in the elevator how wonderful it was that my son just looked at him! A few weeks later for a follow-up, his left eye is staying the same way, and his neck position is almost neutral. It was the best result possible. He had to be seen again in a month to make sure everything was still normal. Then with his other surgery, it went better than expected as well. Back to the eye doctor, he noticed his eyesight in one eye was different than his left eye. He had us come back in about 10 weeks to see if it was the same, or different. It was slightly worse again, so now he had to go back to patching to help strengthen his left eye. He had to wear that patch for about 6 months. In between, he was seen every 3 months, and his sight did improve. Now, it is to the point where his eyesight is equal again. We can wait another 3 months to ensure that his vision stays similar.

On the other hand, explaining to people what Duane Syndrome is, is a fun and challenging experience. Y0u have those that believe I am making up the diagnose and are determined it is a lazy eye, which it is nothing similar to Amblyopia. Along with the others that will listen and be like wow I have never heard of that. Then the few that are like yes, my loved one has that as well. Explain how they had surgery as well and after that, it helped them, and they are striving despite their eye's difficulties.