January 2010

A year has passed since our visit with Dr. Lewis. We opted not to return for the annual visit because it seemed pointless. Since there is nothing we can do to treat his eye disease we didn't really want the news that it had worsened. Ignorance can be bliss at times.

However, one night Rod and I (Rachel) spent a couple hours searching the Internet for RP support groups and reading blogs on various websites including the Foundation for Fighting Blindness. It was on one of these blogs that I saw one person's brief reference to a Microacupuncture treatment for degenerative eye diseases such as Macular Degeneration and RP. With excitement about the possibility of hope, we both scoured the internet looking for more information on this microacupuncture. We didn't find a lot, but what we did find was very encouraging. We picked the brains of anyone and everyone to find out if anyone knew anything about this hopeful treatment. So many responded to our inquiries and for that we are very thankful.

Weighing the facts and opinions that we had gathered, we decided to go for it. There were no guarantees that this unconventional treatment was going to work but we had to try. We chose to fly to the clinic in West Virginia to see Dr. Per Otte, the founder of Microacupuncture, because he claimed he had a 98% success rate and could give Rod 15-30% of his vision back. And if there were no improvements, then he wouldn't charge us for the treatments. Sounded like a fair agreement. So arrangements were made for the last week of February.