Several of you have asked, and I apologize for the delay, but wanted to share where things stand.
Jacob still sees light when it's shined into his eye, and maybe a little movement when the doctor waves his hand, but nothing else. What that means is, the optic nerve isn't dead, but neither is it fully functional. We learned from the surgeon that the optical nerve as 1.4 million strands. By comparison, each ear has 40,000. If only 10 percent of the strands are functional, a person cannot be declared legally blind.
God created the eye with incredible redundancy.
We took JP to Oregon in mid-September, where he lives in an off-campus apartment with three other freshman ball players. Initially, the team physician couldn't clear him to play baseball, so for the first couple weeks it was tough. He couldn't do anything with the team except eat.
But after working with university attorneys, it was determined that he could play, as long as he protected the other eye. He has ballistic Oakleys (GET THEM!!! You have to be military, ex-military or in law enforcement, but if you want them and can't get them, I will get them for you. PM me). They come with several lenses, including clear, so that's good. The only thing the doctor would not permit was scrimmages -- and last week JP was able to get him to give some on that as well -- but only against coach and machine pitching for now.
So JP's on the team, going to classes (pre-law) and living the life of a student athlete. He'll red shirt this season. The coaches have been incredibly supportive.
This week we had a real scare. He got a bug, and because he still has a fracture in the orbital bone beneath his eye, infection seeped into the orbital space. While there was no risk to the eyeball, which has held together well after the miraculous seven-hour surgery in August (and with the help of a silicon buckle around the eye) there was considerable risk that the infection could travel to the brain. That's VERY bad.
So he was hospitalized and put on a broad spectra of antibiotics. My wife flew up from Dallas.
The antibiotics worked, and two days ago they got the culture back. It was bacterial, but the infectious disease doctor knew which antibiotic combated it, so he was released, and is much better now. He's back with the team and I pick my wife up at the airport this evening.
JP will have surgery to repair the fracture over Christmas break. Not a major deal.
In terms of baseball, he's actually doing fine. He's hitting a few out, and he tells me about making diving catches in left field, so that's good. The surgeon said he would adapt VERY quickly, and I think he has. When he called me and complained that he had a bad practice because he wasn't consistently hitting the opposite way during a situational hitting drill, I reminded him, "You were never great at that!"
So it felt kinda normal.
That's the goal. Move on, live a normal life.
On a related note, I reached out through JP's adviser and was able to speak with Minnesota Twins MLB coach Joe Vavra. His son Tanner lost his vision in his right eye in an accident when he was nine years old -- and went on to become a very successful shortstop and hitter (tops in Nothwoods League; made it to AA, I think).
Joe told me the story about how Tommy Lasorda called Tanner when he was 10 years old and asked him what he was going to do about baseball. Tanner said he'd been told he couldn't play anymore.
"Who told you that? Lasorda responded.
"The doctors."
'Did GOD tell you that?"
"No."
"Well, until God tells you you can't play, get out there!"
Tanner called me a couple days ago, and is reaching out to Jacob.
Thank you all for your concern and your prayers. It means more than I can say. Please keep Jacob Parrott in your prayers -- and love your sons.
..........................
Here are links in case you're interested:
Oakley Special Issue website:
http://www.oakleysi.com/Root/E.../c/eyewear-ballistic
Tanner's story:
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/32422052/
Jacob's story:
http://theredledger.net/2016/0...nforeseeable-future/
http://www.heraldandnews.com/s...33-c2eb540929dc.html
