Adley's Neuro-Opthamology Appointment

I felt far from alone knowing so many people were thinking of us and praying for the situation as we waited in that room this morning......many of you were waiting with us this, on pins and needles, and it was such a great feeling for me.  As texts and prayers came through on my phone I got teary with gratitude to have such a wonderful, close knit group of people surrouding and uplifting us.
We went to the appointment feeling hopeful and confident in our perfect little package. We had seen noticeable improvement over the past few days as we witnessed Adley becoming a cooing, smiling, interactive part of our little family. She seldom expresses anything but contentment and joy......I could learn a lot from her in that regard. She laughs at Elyse, we all do, and seeing our two little girls getting to know each other is such an overwhelming gift.
I was a little nervous as they called us back from the waiting room, but sure this visit would go better than our pediatrician check-up that led us here.....she was different now.
Doctor Hess was wonderful, a true gift to his profession. His exam of her was gentle and thorough and he answered every question and concern we voiced..............which I'm thankful for because we will be seeing him again.
When asked how her appointment went, I don't quite know what to say.  If I had to choose between "good" or "bad", the appointment went bad.
Here's what we know:
Structurally her eyes are normal. Her pupils are reactive, optic nerves present and healthy, her maculas are formed and of the appropriate size. Anatomically speaking, her eyes are perfect, both of them.

What we don't know is why she isn't using them at a developmentally, age appropriate level. Something I thought I'd previously ruled out is now still presented as a possibility. He could not assure us she wasn't blind and to consider the possibility that when we thought we saw her looking, she was following sound, not actual sight.

Given her eyes are structurally normal it's time to pursue what else it could be, which leads us to the brain and the neuropathways from the brain that control and send messages to her eyes and vice verse. He told us the list of possibilities is extremely lengthy and ordered her to have an MRI done to get a clear picture of her brain. We don't know the date yet, they will be calling us to schedule it and the results will take 1-2 days after that.

The possibilities of what could be wrong or what could be causing this is overwhelming. He did say, "If you take nothing else from this visit, please still realize everything could be just fine and she could show us later that she can see and use her eyes like she should." He said if her MRI comes back normal we can cross a lot of those things off of our list and if it isn't normal we can begin to narrow the list down as well.

Matt and I left the visit in a fog. I had a headache from forcing back tears and my brain didn't know what to attempt to process. Mentally and emotionally we want to begin to try to prepare ourselves for whatever it is this all may mean but there are so many possibilities that we don't know what to think.  Basically, in a nut shell, we still know nothing.  We know just enough to be worried and that's about it.

Right now we wait. Regardless of the MRI results we will still be waiting until Adley let's us know what she's seeing, not seeing, or if this deficit is much more involved than just her eyes, or if everything is perfectly fine. We will be waiting on her, our sweet, sweet baby girl. We wait and we pray and we trust.