I am starting this blog mainly to share our "amblyopia" story with others and record the story with my son...so much is forgotten as you go about your day to day life, this will help us remember.
A week ago I took Thomas to see a pediatric ophthalmologist as our pediatrician recommended. Thomas was there for his 4 year old well check visit and essentially failed the left eye side of his vision screening. I was watching Thomas as the nurse did the screening and it was clear that he was having a hard time with his left eye.
I didn't think a whole lot of the ophthalmologist appointment. I thought to myself "he may need glasses but that is not a huge deal." Imagine my surprise when I was told he had 20/20 vision in his right eye and 20/200 in his left. His right eye had done such a great job of compensating for his left that his brain had pretty much stopped "talking" to the left eye. I was shocked and devastated! I kind of went into "lets do what we have to do" mode and followed the doctors instructions to go to an optician and order glasses.
Thomas would wear his glasses for 10 days and then we would start patching his right eye for 2 hours a day. Six weeks later we are to return for a follow up visit. I scheduled the follow up visit for my birthday and we are going to go to the "Chocolate Bar" to celebrate ourselves!
We picked Thomas' glasses up on Friday and he has done REALLY well for a 4 year old who must wear glasses. They are very cute...I narrowed the glasses that Thomas tried on down to two pair and Thomas made the final pick. It was really cute but I knew he was more likely to wear them if he had some kind of ownership in the selection. It worked like a charm...Thomas loves to tell people that he chose his own glasses.
We will start patching his right eye next week...
I didn't think a whole lot of the ophthalmologist appointment. I thought to myself "he may need glasses but that is not a huge deal." Imagine my surprise when I was told he had 20/20 vision in his right eye and 20/200 in his left. His right eye had done such a great job of compensating for his left that his brain had pretty much stopped "talking" to the left eye. I was shocked and devastated! I kind of went into "lets do what we have to do" mode and followed the doctors instructions to go to an optician and order glasses.
Thomas would wear his glasses for 10 days and then we would start patching his right eye for 2 hours a day. Six weeks later we are to return for a follow up visit. I scheduled the follow up visit for my birthday and we are going to go to the "Chocolate Bar" to celebrate ourselves!
We picked Thomas' glasses up on Friday and he has done REALLY well for a 4 year old who must wear glasses. They are very cute...I narrowed the glasses that Thomas tried on down to two pair and Thomas made the final pick. It was really cute but I knew he was more likely to wear them if he had some kind of ownership in the selection. It worked like a charm...Thomas loves to tell people that he chose his own glasses.
We will start patching his right eye next week...
Several people I have shared this story with have asked me about self inflicted guilt. I have none whatsoever. It makes me so sad that Thomas has to deal with this but it is what it is so we press on to the goal of helping him to see.
Our ophthalmologist told me there was no way I could have seen this coming as his left eye didn't turn in, he didn't seem to strain in any way and he never complained about not being able to see. Thank goodness for vision screenings at 4 years of age...I sure would have never thought to ask.
It hurts that there is something "wrong" with Thomas' eye, I wish I could take that on for him but I think these feelings are the signs of a mom who loves her child, not some kind of guilt thing.
You never know what resources are out there for a "malady" until you NEED to know...who knew they made special band-aid patches for amblyopia or even cool fabric ones? I ordered fabric patches with cool appliques from here: www.patchpals.com and bought adhesive ones with cool designs on them from our ophthalmologist. Thomas will be set next week!
Our ophthalmologist told me there was no way I could have seen this coming as his left eye didn't turn in, he didn't seem to strain in any way and he never complained about not being able to see. Thank goodness for vision screenings at 4 years of age...I sure would have never thought to ask.
It hurts that there is something "wrong" with Thomas' eye, I wish I could take that on for him but I think these feelings are the signs of a mom who loves her child, not some kind of guilt thing.
You never know what resources are out there for a "malady" until you NEED to know...who knew they made special band-aid patches for amblyopia or even cool fabric ones? I ordered fabric patches with cool appliques from here: www.patchpals.com and bought adhesive ones with cool designs on them from our ophthalmologist. Thomas will be set next week!
I am new to blogging so I don't know why the link to patch pals won't show up. www.patchpals.com
ReplyDeleteThis is almost our exact story! My 4 year old daughter Kiersten had a vision screening done at Pre-K (thank goodness!) and I was shocked to hear that she had failed. We followed up with our optometrist who ordered her glasses and referred us to a pediatric opthamologist. Kiersten right eye acuity was 20/30, but her left eye was 20/200. I felt awful! How could I not have noticed?! But like you said, her eye didn't cross and she never acted like anything was wrong. We go back for her first follow up visit in a week from today. I'm hoping Kiersten has made as much progress as your son!
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