Fintan still has regular appointments with the Prosthetics Department at Moorfields Eye Hospital; as he is still growing, his artificial eyes need to grow with him. He suffers with quite a lot of eye infections which fortunately can be treated by the Children's Ward at our local hospital - who always seem pleased to see him! He also has a check up every few months with the Retinoblastoma Service at the Royal London Hospital and with the Paediatric Oncologist - maintaining his contact with the team that have been a large part of his life.
Due to the recent tube strike, Fintan's last appointment at the Royal London had to be postponed, but he was seen last Friday and despite having recently had a couple of nasty eye infections all was well. He does have a small cyst in his left eye socket, but they are confident this will disperse naturally. However, 3 days later and Fintan has another eye infection! This doesn't cause him any discomfort, it is more a nuisance to me as he requires eye drops 4 times a day which involves frequent trips to and from school.
Fintan is thriving at school; he has a fantastic support team, provided by both his LSAs and the Visual Impairment Team. He is reading and writing Braille, learning touch typing and mastering JAWS (audio) software - all of this on top of the normal skills that children have to learn at school i.e. phonics, literacy, numeracy, etc. He is very much included in everything with his classmates, most of whom are keen to help Fintan get about - they seem to thoroughly enjoy the responsibility of helping to guide him out to the playground at the end of the day!
A lot has happened since April last year, Fintan turned 6 years old, we had a glorious 2 week summer holiday in France and we welcomed a new member to the family - Audrey, Fintan's 'buddy' dog. Audrey is a beautiful 2 year old yellow labrador; she was bred as a guide dog, but didn't quite make the grade - a bit ditsy, but very well trained and has a lovely nature. She is intended as a confidence boosting companion for Fintan and also to prepare him for the responsibility of possibly having a Guide dog in the future.
October saw us all (except Audrey!) taking a fleeting trip to Toronto, Canada to attend a wedding and the arrival of another cousin for the boys and then we had Fintan's first unsighted Christmas - I was a little anxious, but in true Fintan style he enjoyed it as much as any other Christmas!
Lagarde-Hachan, France - August 2013
Toronto - October 2013
Christmas 2013
Nothing stops Fintan and he embraces every challenge with an 'I can do it' attitude! He has recently started piano lessons - hopefully he will not want to progress onto the trumpet, I think two trumpet players competing to practice is enough!
Audrey
We have our 'moments', but it is all very positive in the Morley-Smith household!!
