Hi,
First and foremost, thank all of you for your prayers, poems and stories. Doogie, Al and I will be forever grateful.
Doogie's vision has stabilized in his right eye. It is currently 20/200 (legally blind; he can read only to the second line past the big "E"); previous to the retina detachment it was 20/60. His left eye has no vision but he can determine light/dark in that eye.
I'm grateful, as are both the guys, that he can see period. There will be a second surgery on the right eye in either July or August--first to remove the oil that is holding the right retina in place (as removing it 'clears' the vision) and to remove his right lense (that has a cataract). The diseased lense will be replaced by an artificial lense. Hopefully, these two things will give him more/better vision. There is a 3% chance of death and also the possibility that he can lose the vision he just regained. So please keep Doogie in your prayers. He doesn't complain . . ever.
Doogie turned nine April 22nd (while he was being home schooled by a tutor for the blind and me). He returned to his third grade class (he's been off since March 23rd) on Tuesday, April 29th without the benefit of new glasses (they've been ordered but haven't arrived yet) or a white-tipped cane. Everyone marvels at how well he is doing--he shuns an escort but often someone (an adult) is 'watching'.
On another note, my daughter (Doogie's mom) Sherry who is now five months into her eighth pregnancy (only Doogie has survived)has received critical information about the fetus--doctors fear it has one extra chromosome (Down's Syndrome). They wanted to do a test to confirm the abnormality but Sherry doesn't want to know; I agree that the test is risky and that there would, again, be pressure for an abortion so support her decision. Please remember that little baby in your prayers as well.
I finally got my fifth fitting for contacts and wore them to Carey's wedding. They weren't exactly perfect so I do hope the pictures are in focus :)!
To those who send attachments: thank you BUT Al set my computer (after it crashed three times last December) to automatically delete attachments. Anything MUST be copied/pasted into the body of the email. I do love hearing from all of you so do keep writing.
God hasn't failed me yet so I'll leave you with a joke and a smile.
Help or Hindrance?
A blind man is walking down the street with his seeing-eye dog one day. They come to a busy intersection and the dog, ignoring the high volume of traffic zooming by on the street, leads the blind man right out into the thick of the traffic.
This is followed by the screech of tires and horns blaring as panicked drivers try desperately not to run the pair down.
The blind man and the dog finally reach the safety of the sidewalk on the other side of the street and the blind man pulls a cookie out of his coat pocket which he offers to the dog.
A passerby, having observed the near fatal incident, can't control his amazement and says to the blind man, "Why on earth are you rewarding your dog with a cookie? He nearly got you killed!"
The blind man turns partially in his direction and replies, "To find out where his head is, so I can kick his butt."
from my friend, Wade

Please watch your step (so nobody gets kicked) and keep in touch.
Love,
Sandy