Saturday, December 17, 2011

Glasses

A few weeks ago Gavin told me that when he closes his left eye he can't really see. He told me he can only really see good with his left eye. I really kind of thought it was nothing because how well can anyone see with just one eye open, right? And I have been complaining about my eyes, (which are 20/20 by the way). But I asked him to ask his teacher if he could get tested at the nurse's office at school. He came home and had forgot to ask.

The next Monday I was at school doing reading groups and I stopped in the nurses office and asked her if she could pull him and test him. She asked if he has trouble in school, playing sports, etc.? No, No, and No. I told her just to ease his mind, I am sure it is fine, to please test him. She called me within 30 minutes asking me to call her back. I knew he probably had failed by the message left. She recommended that we see a pediatric optometrist as soon as possible.

So my Mommy worry mode set in. I called and begged for an early appointment and got one the next day. When we got the eye doctor he did lots of tests taking pictures of his eyes. Before Gavin even read the lines he told us there was a problem. His brain is apparently not using his right eye because it is weaker. This has probably  been going on for years and we didn't know it. His left eye has been compensating. His vision was actually 20/100. That means what most people can see at 100 feet Gavin can see at 20 feet. Also known as NOT GOOD. He was given a big prescription for eye glasses. There is only a prescription lens in the right eye. But the doctor wants to give him contacts as he doesn't think the glasses are going to work. He also thinks he will need therapy and a patch over his eye to get the brain to respond to the right eye again.

He was a little apprehensive at the appointment and very scared to get his eyes dilated, but he did great.



It took almost two weeks for the glasses to come in, but they came in today. He was pretty excited to show them off. I guess glasses are cooler than they used to be when I was a kid. We are putting eye drops in his eyes to get him used to drops for contacts. I think those are coming at our next appointment in a month. Usually they don't do contacts until 11 or 12 but he said he thinks he needs them. Needless to say I feel terrible that we never found this out sooner. The doctor said the earlier you get testing done the easier it is to correct. He will have glasses or contacts forever, but we need to get both eyes responding again.
So without further ado...my handsome little man and his new glasses....he looks so much older!

3 comments:

ChrissyK said...

Oh no... poor Gavin. BUT,,, he looks even more handsome with those glasses. I bet he is thrilled now that he can see out of both eyes.

Emily said...

How handsome is he! I'm so glad you found this out now and not later on. Hopefully his right eye will start responding! And get this, just Thursday after BSF I was telling Jason the exact same thing! I can't see out of my right eye! It's all blurry. It's hard to explain how I figured that out (I'll tell you later) but I figured it out at lecture at BSF. Maybe I need to get tested, too. Ever since I noticed it it's been driving me crazy. Keep us posted on Gavin!

The Guess Family said...

My friends little girl just got diagnosed with the same problem. She has glasses for school and then the doc has her wearing a patch at home when she is reading or watching TV. She covers the good eye, to make the bad one begin working again. Hopefully Gavin will get better soon, but he looks precios in the glasses. I was blind until 4th grade, when we discovered I needed glasses...it was a whole new world when I put them on.

Enjoy the craziness of this time of year! We have one more day of school....I am ready to have my girls home and playing with me!!!