My Husband Ralph and I (Sherry Salatto) planned and awaited the birth of our Baby. My pregnancy went great I felt pretty good and did everything I thought was right for myself and our Baby. I quit all caffeine and ate well, I did a lot of walking and took my vitamins. The thought of anything being wrong with our child never crossed my mind.
On March 4, 1998 Our son Collin was born. He was beautiful and we were told he was perfect. It was not until the next day that our world would come crashing down. All our family came to see Collin and we were all so excited to have him here with us.
The next morning A couple of close friends came to see Collin, the Nurse came and took him to the nursery to be checked by the Dr. I considered this to be normal. After about a half hour I started to get worried that they had not brought him back. Our friends were anxious to see him and so was I. I sent my Husband to see what was taking so long. When he returned he had a blank look on his face and said the Dr. wanted to talk to us. A few minutes passed when the Dr. came to our room. She looked at me and blurted out that she looked at our son's eyes because he had not opened them yet and she did not think that he had any globes at all. I did not understand what she was telling me. Of course he had eyes! All I could think of is bring me my son I need to see him and hold him. I was crushed to say the least. My friends did not know what to say or do. They decided it would be best if they left us alone. The Dr. just left me sitting there crying uncontrolably. My husband and I held eachother and waited for more news. They did many tests on Collin, finally the Dr. said that she did see that he had globes but that they were small. I felt just a little bit better. A specialist was now to see our son. I had hopes that the specialist would tell me that everthing would be o.k. and Collin would see just fine.
Dr. Thornquist was the Pedi. Opt. that looked at him. He was wonderful he was very thorough and did an examination. He turned to us and said "Collin has Microphthalmia with cysts in both eyes. One eye is worse than the other. He did many tests and said that Collin would have some vision in his right eye but not any in his left. I now had to come to terms with the fact that this was not going to be just fine. I was relieved, however that our baby would see Mommy and Daddy and his two Brothers. That was something to be grateful for.
We have come a long way since then. Collin has had glasses since he was two months old, he is now seven months and his right eye has gotten a little stronger. We are thrilled with his progress and he has taught us so much about what is really important in life. He is a very happy and energetic little boy and does everything a sighted child would do. We are blessed with a very special little boy who gives us new hope everytime he smiles at us.
The thing that has really helped me a great deal is talking with other people out there who are dealing with the same things I am and knowing I am not alone. I have made so many wonderful new friends and learned so much.
