Albinoah

So our visit to Dr. Gorski's office didn't turn out quite the way we'd hoped! Dr. Gorski said he thinks Noah does have albinism, but he's not sure whether it's Type 2 or Type 3. He ruled out Type 1B (what he and Noah's eye doctor thought he might have) after seeing Noah's freckle and confirming it wasn't just a spot of dirt that hadn't washed off! I guess they see that a lot!


Dr. Gorski said it's difficult to discern between Types 2 and 3 without doing the blood work. However, he said there may only be one lab in the country that could do all the necessary testing; otherwise, they'd send different samples to several labs. We asked what that would do for us, and they said it would confirm the type of albinism Noah has. Then, if we chose to do any pre-natal testing on any subsequent children (no, we're not having another kid any time soon, Kelly), we could potentially find out if these babies also had albinism.


There would be a one in four chance that any other children we have would have the exact same type of albinism Noah has. It wouldn't be any more mild or severe. There would be a three in four chance that any other children we have would not have albinism at all. So it doesn't sound worth it to put Noah through any testing to find out whether he's a 2 or a 3! It wouldn't matter to us at all if any other child had this.


There's really nothing else we can or need to do. He'll have sensitivity to light, which he and I both have! He'll need to wear sunscreen much more diligently than other people (same here for me!), and we'll need to make sure he wears protective clothing, hats and sunglasses. We won't want him outside too much from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (when they tell you not to be outside too often, anyway). Also, he can't ever have aspirin, as it could cause internal bleeding. So we'll just stick with the Tylenol! All easy things for us to remember, especially as we already do them for him and/or for ourselves.


Dave took Noah for a haircut last night, so he won't be too shaggy for Easter! Noah's been very anti lately in "unusual" situations - like when getting a haircut, when animals get too close to him or when he hears loud trucks closer than he'd like! Dave snapped a picture of him in the mirror to show how difficult he can be sometimes!



We're looking forward to an exciting Easter weekend! We're heading to Concordia after work tomorrow evening for Garage Sale, Take Two. Then we'll finish the sale Saturday morning. Grandma Pat wants to take Noah to an Easter egg hunt Saturday afternoon, and we have the McGinnis Easter dinner Saturday night. We'll go to church Sunday morning and head to Lexington for Easter lunch with Grandma Norita! I think, if we get there in time, Grandma Norita wants to take Noah to an egg hunt in Dover. Oh, the candy we will have!


Then we have Miss McKenna's 10th birthday party that night! It will be so nice to see them all! We have to do our Christmas - I don't think I've seen the kids since the summer. Too long!


Hoppy Easter!