It’s been 6 Years since Mia’s Uveitis diagnosis. 6 years ago, her left eye was so inflamed and already had some damage and scar tissue, that she could only read the large letter “E” on the eyechart. 6 years on this Uveitis rollercoaster. 6 years since the beginning of many appointments with our WONDERFUL doctors, seemingly endless eyedrops, numerous blood draws, so many hours of patching the good eye to force her brain and the weak eye to work harder, periods of yucky pills that made her sick to her stomach and fatigued every week, countless injections, many bouts of injection anxiety that also led to getting sick to her stomach, frustration (and some tears) with each new flare, joy and relief with each “all clear” report, a successful cataract surgery, lingering glaucoma, several pairs of glasses, and much more. God has been with us through it all. We have been blessed through it all. We have felt everyone’s love and prayers through it all.
All that she has endured brings us to where we are now. For now, her Uveitis is stable. Praise the Lord! She is not cured and she may have to continue on this journey for her whole life. But for now, she is stable. They call it “medicated remission”. Now she is down to 1 eye drop a day for the lingering glaucoma, which she can administer herself. Now she can stomach getting an injection and is currently down to one shot every 2 weeks. Now she can see 20/20 in her left eye with her glasses on (even with the vision impairment from her stroke last year). Now she doesn’t cry when she has to get her blood drawn (even when they have to take more than 10 vials of blood in one draw, like they had to do yesterday for her BIG annual lab work up). Now we go into appointments knowing that the rollercoaster we are on could possibly freefall at anytime and we may need to start the long climb to the top all over again. Now we pray and hope for the best, but we are not broken when we don’t get it. We still know that God is with us, strengthening us, through it all.