After walking herself down to breakfast again today and thanking the staff for their kindness and hospitality, we were off to the clinic.  Today is our final day at the clinic and it is met with some mixed emotions.  We are excited to be going home and overwhelmed with gratitude for the two doctors and the rest of the staff at the Fedorov Restore Vision Clinic.  My mom had her final electrical stimulation treatment today.  When she came out Dr. Julia and my mom both told me that she received flashes in her right eye today.  Her right eye was the worse of her two and hadn’t responded as quickly to the treatment as the left eye had done.  We feel so blessed that the right eye is also responding to treatment in such a short amount of time.  Dr. Fedorov tells all of his patients that the first benchmark and measure if someone is responding is done at 3 months, after home training is continued. 

After treatment my mom had two more hours of testing and then our consultation with Dr. Fedorov.  The testing went well and then we waited for our final appointment.  We were both nervous and excited to hear what he had to say.  He began the appointment by repeating the OCT scan of my mom’s eyes taking a look specifically at her retinal cells.  He took great time and detail to show my how many retinal cells my mom has left.  It was fascinating. 

Right now, my mom is seeing somewhere between 4%-7% of total possible vision for a normal functioning eye.  It is like looking through a drinking straw.  Dr. Fedorov believes it is possible for my mom to regain up to 30% of her vision.  This will be life changing but let me explain so we are all on the same page.  Retina cells are found on the back of the eye structure and go around the entire eye.  Due to the progression of the Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) for my mom, much of the retina does not have photo receptor cells (rods and cones), and is in effect, dead.  BUT, in the middle portion of the eyeball, approximately 30%, she has MANY cells that are viable.  So, what does this mean for my mom?  Her visual field will expand and could expand as much as 30%.  In America, legally blind is determined by less than 10% vision.  She could gain enough sight back to not be considered legally blind.  Will she ever drive a car again?  Unfortunately, the answer is most likely no.  As Dr. Fedorov has always said we cannot make or grow retina or optic nerve cells once they are gone, but we can optimize what is there.  But to go from 4%-7% vision to 30% will indeed be life changing.  And many of his patients have also reported increase in photo receptor cells meaning she could see in dim lighting or bright lighting, certainly more than she does now.  She reported to him that the amount of time it takes her eyes to adjust when going from outside where it is bright into a house that is darker has already improved significantly.  She estimated it used to take about 5 minutes for her eyes to adjust and now it takes about 2. 

My mom and I discussed perhaps she will not need a cane to ambulate.  I reminded her that sometimes the cane is as much for other people to realize she is blind as it is for her safety.  We will see what the future holds, literally and figuratively. 

Near the end of our consultation Dr. Fedorov told my mom that she had to work hard when going home.  He said for the next three months there will be some fluctuation in her vision as her brain and eyes learn to work together more efficiently.  He said this is somewhat normal and not to panic if one day her vision seems slightly worse than a few days before.  But he did say, whatever vision she had regained at the 3-month mark is hers to keep and it would most likely always stay.  Not only can the treatment improve vision, it can also stop the disease from progressing further.  We were so excited to hear this. 

My mom will use the eye training software 1 – 4 times per day for the next 3 months.  The software is intuitive and takes from 20-40 minutes to complete a session.  We are in the process of getting the computer equipment we need to run the software and acquiring a touch screen monitor.  We will also install room darkening curtains in the front of their living room as the training must be done in a dark room.