Ephraim Update

Ephraim and I are home now. Ephraim seems to be back to his cute, cuddly, constantly-eating self.

The surgery accomplished what it was supposed to. That is, the surgeon removed the lens, which had a cataract and the scarred portion of the vitreous.

While he was doing the surgery, he saw that the retina is severely underdeveloped. He called in a retinal specialist who agreed with that assessment. As a result, they do not expect Ephraim to have vision in his left eye.

We have a followup appointment on Monday which will probably deal with the cosmetic issues of the problem - the cross-eyedness and the fact that the affected eye is smaller.

I've talked about this about as much as I can take, so please...

I will say that we are coping and we're not worried about Ephraim. We love him very much and are glad that he came through the surgery well. Of course, we're disappointed that vision is unlikely in the eye, but we know that people can live happy, healthy, good lives with vision in only one eye.

The Surgery's Over

Hi - this is Rachel (triLcat's sister) on to tell you that the surgery was this morning and Ephraim Yehoshua is doing well. The results of the surgery are still unclear - she'll post about that when she gets a chance.

Thank you for your support!

A Request

I've hesitated to write about this. Ephraim was diagnosed with PHPV in his left eye. (Click the link for details - I've explained it too many times, and it kind of makes me sick to talk about it.)

He will be having surgery, G-d willing, on Tuesday Feb 17th. I will be with him at Tel Hashomer hospital in the eye clinic Monday-Wednesday, assuming all goes well.

For those interested in such things, the doctor performing the surgery will be Professor Shpirer.

My request is for your prayers. His name is Ephraim Joshua. For those doing the typical Jewish thing, it's Ephraim Yehoshua ben Leah Gavriela or, in Hebrew, אפרים יהושע בן לאה גבריאלה.

Anyone who wants to offer more tangible support, I will probably be alone in the evenings, and would appreciate visitors (if you're in the neighborhood) and phone calls (if you have time).

Thank you everyone,
t.c.

Clarification

Some of y'all seemed to have thought that the picture in the last post was Ephraim.
It wasn't.
It was Kinneret.
For clarification...
This is Kinneret:
This is Ephraim:

This is Kinneret attempting to hold Ephraim in her lap:


As you can see from her smile, she LOVES being a big sister!

I hope this answers any questions left over from the last post.