Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Our boy's eyes

Will soon be sporting a new pair of glasses.



Aidan went to the eye doctor this afternoon because of some concerns I have had with his right eye crossing. Aaron and I were lucky enough to both be able to go to the appointment as my mom and sister were able to watch the girls. I was super glad Aaron was able to go to also, because as it turns out, we needed to pick out some frames for Aidan and I think I would have been nervous deciding something like that myself.

Anyway, I should back up a little. Aidan was a SUPER AWESOME TERRIFIC patient at the eye doctor (minus the part where they put the drops in, but I can't say I blame him there). We were there doing different eye tests or waiting for a total of 2 hours and he was so wonderful the ENTIRE time. He sat on my lap or Aaron's lap and did his best following directions from the assistant and then the doctor. As he was doing all the tests it became so sadly obvious that he can apparently barely see with his right eye. He could read the tiniest print with his left eye, but when they covered the left he could not read a thing with his right eye, not even when they put the largest letter up on the screen. Then they would uncover his left eye to right something down and he would be like "Oh, its a "T"!"

It was so hard to hear exactly how bad the right eye is. Apparently it is a perfectly healthy eye, but just never learned to work properly because the left eye just always overcompensated for it. The condition is called amblyopia, or more commonly lazy eye. So Aidan picked out some cute little glasses and seems excited about them. We will get them in 7-10 days so I guess we will really see how he feels about them then. Especially since it is going to feel really funny for him as of course they are supposed to help the right eye start working. We have thought of many more questions about how exactly the glasses are supposed to work after we left, so we will have to ask when we go back in to get the glasses. After 4 weeks of wearing the glasses we will go back in and the doctor will check and see how they are working or if we need to talk about patching the left eye to make the right eye learn to work.

So, not great news, but not horrible news either. The eye is healthy, just need to teach it to work. I am mostly just mad at myself for not trusting my instincts. I noticed right before he turned three that his right eye occasionally crossed to the middle, but no one else saw it so I just thought I was imagining things. And his pediatrician seemed to think nothing of it when I mentioned at his three year check, but then when I was still concerned this year at his 4 year check the doctor was like, "Oh get that looked at because the eye could die!" Thanks doc. Thanks for that info last year. Oh well. We caught it and we are going to treat it and get that right eye working!!!! Please pray for Aidan's and our patience as we work through all the fun that must lie ahead in working with a 4 year old and glasses and possibly patches. :)

1 comment:

Sarah said...

I am glad that he was a good little patient and that they could really check things out. I love the pediatritions comment,,,,,, seriously! But you are a good momma and didn't let it go and got him checked. I hope the glasses work and he gets used to wearing them and that eye gets off his tush and starts seeing!