more vision updates (D & me)

We're back home again from another trip to the optometrist. This time it was for me and D. D's checkup went well and his vision has really improved! We are continuing to patch and do strengthening exercises. The only thing that didn't improve was his depth perception. (I was not even aware it was that bad.) Anyhow, our optometrist is referring us to a specialist she works with and we will probably have to see her for an evaluation and get set up with some in office therapy.

I do have mixed feelings on this. I am so glad his sight is getting better!! I'm also glad we caught this before it progressively worsened. I am glad we can do something to improve his vision. My sad feelings are mainly about cost of therapy (will insurance cover? will the doc accept it?) and the (probably) weekly visits to an office an hour away. I didn't expect to hear there wasn't improvement. Especially after Ry showed improvement across the board... I just thought it would be good news all over again. We'll do what it takes, though. It's good to know that we can do something!

I had my first eye exam and there was nothing to be worried about. My eyes are healthy and my vision is "better than perfect" (doctor's words). Oh, but I do have a slight astigmatism in both eyes (I'm told it's common) and have a prescription for reading glasses (although I could just pick up a pair anywhere; the prescription is because of the astigmatism.) My left eye is worse than my right and I have noticed while I'm focusing on things close up (reading, computer time) that my right eye seems to be doing more of the work. It's hard to explain but I have been aware of my left eye's lack of focus for a while. I did get my eyes dilated (the drop stung a little, but it was fine). The whole process made me much more aware of how my kids feel at each visit.

That's all for now! See ya tomorrow.

Some things we did

Yesterday we took Ry to his eye checkup. He is still making progress and we are continuing to patch and do eye exercises. His depth perception has improved and his eyes are working together more. He definitely has more awareness of using his left eye. We go back in three months for his checkup and one year evaluation.
T also had an eye exam and is getting some new glasses. (I've been telling him for two years that he needs new ones.) He came out of his exam and the doc came over and said, "So, he tells me you've never had an eye exam! Why don't you schedule one for Thursday when you bring D in for his?" Ugh. It's true, I've never had a complete evaluation. I've only done the vision test for getting my drivers license to prove I'm not blind. I suppose it's the right thing to do. I'm a little nervous, but have been reassured that it's nothing to stress about. (I just don't want to do the glaucoma test or have to get my eyes dilated.)


We rented The Help last night and watched it with my sister and brother-in-law. I was so excited about it, but it's different from the book. That's the problem with movies based on books. First if you didn't read the book there were a lot of things you are missing out on in the movie, especially background info on different people. I was somewhat disappointed in it. My sister and I took turns giving each other looks and saying, "That's not what happened in the book!" So, if you really want know what all the fuss is about you still need to read the book. 

Well, my house missed me the last couple of days. I think I'll clean the kitchen and then organize Rose's new birthday and Christmas toys... or just play with them. That sounds like more fun!

Spectacles and Gratitude

Yesterday was full of adventure! Okay, not exactly, but it was fun and a tiny bit scary for a second...

Ry-Guy had an eye appointment and D was getting his glasses yesterday morning. I decided to have my mom watch Rose while I took the boys. My sister was home when I got to my mom's house and she needed to run an errand in the city, too, so she came with me. We took my mom's suburban and I had just enough time to get us to the doctors office on time for the appointment. Halfway there D says he is hungry. I sort of dismissed it with a "we'll eat lunch after the appointment" because he had already eaten a healthy breakfast. (no, really, scrambled egg and some yogurt.) (that sounds gross but was eaten like an hour apart) We are driving along and I hear D cough, which is not a big deal because we've been feeling cough-y and stuffy nosed lately. My sister turns around and says, "I think he's throwing up!" So I pull off the road and yes, indeed, he has. Luckily my mom keeps a large blanket and sheet in the back and we clean him up as best as we can and I took his shirt off... Now I needed to decide whether we should proceed on or turn around. After checking his temperature (the old fashioned way: back of my hand) I decide he is probably okay and we give him a bag in case he feels sick again. And pray it's just a weird combo of foods and he's not really sick. (Thankful for my mom's "emergency items" and my sister being there.)

Obviously his clothes are pukish so I have to stop at Target and run through the store and grab a shirt and pants and some baby wipes (to assist in more thorough clean up). The guy at the register asks how I am doing and I respond with a out of breath-ish reply of not exactly how I planned but okay. He asks how old he is (he is ringing up the clothes) and I say five, he spilled something all over him and I had to come in a grab some new clothes... I didn't say what he spilled. The guy responded with a "yeah, I've been there with my daughter!" (thankful for an understanding cashier and that my budget allowed this. Thankful I could leave D with my sis instead of dragging a puked on shirtless boy through Target.)

We make it to the doctor's office 3 minutes late. (thankful they aren't a super busy office) Ry goes in for his appointment and my sis and D wait in the front while he gets his glasses adjusted. (Thankful D is playing and is in really good spirits about his comfy corduroy pants and football shirt.)

Ry waiting for the doc

D sportin' his new eye wear. (and new shirt)

Everything went well after our car sickness episode. (was it car sickness????) We stopped a few more places and then headed home. (Thankful D is feeling back to normal and loves his glasses.)

Hopefully a nice day today. I have some stuff to catch up on + the usual "stuff". It should be lots of fun!

He has Amblyopia

Yesterday was D's eye exam. We had noticed his right deviating just slightly at times when he was looking at us from across the room or when he was really tired. During his exam, while he was identifying the shapes (they use a shape chart for younger patients instead of letters) I noticed he would turn his head and focus with his left eye. The doctor patched each eye to test them separately and he struggled through it with the right eye. His left eye is much stronger. I am just thankful we are catching this early. If we hadn't noticed that right eye straying we may have not found out his vision was deteriorating until he was older. So, he's getting glasses (the same exact kind that Ry has) and will patch his left eye for two hours a day to strengthen the vision in his right eye. He will also do thirty minutes of vision therapy (monocular performance therapy) while patching. Basically anything that requires fine motor skills and lots of focus. (Ry is already doing this as part of his therapy.) To quote the handout I received:

Goal: Increase visual performance in each eye, especially the amblyopic (lazy) eye. Stress the use of the amblyopic (poorer seeing eye).... The smaller or more refined the task the better. The goal in all procedures is equal performance with either eye.

 A couple of tasks will be: stringing beads, spearing raisins with a toothpick (I use small marshmallows, too), pick up items with tweezers, coloring within the lines, filling in the letter 'O' in a magazine or newspaper.

Both Ry and D have a "lazy eye" which often goes unnoticed until children are in school. Ry also has a strabismic eye (eye turn) which is related to the eye muscle. He gets a couple of different exercises to work on that. You can read more about the differences and definitions of Amblyopia and Stabismus.

I don't feel like there is enough awareness about the importance of a vision exam in young children. Our pediatrician did a eye exam with D at his 4 year check up and unfortunately I was not able to accompany him since Ry was also getting a checkup at the same time. The nurse took him back and then returned pretty quickly to say that he failed the exam because he said he couldn't see anything. It's actually highly recommended to have infants screened by an optometrist before they are a year old. Our eye doc will do this screening for free (if the child is less than a year old).

So, I'm just going to encourage you to ask your pediatrician if they suggest an eye exam for your baby... and then go see an optometrist anyway.

You can visit our doctors website here.

Yesterday

I had to leave early yesterday morning to take Ry to his optometry checkup which went wonderfully. His doc was happy and also impressed with his ability to become bored so fast. Basically he sits in a big chair (very similar to a dentists chair) telling us which object he sees on the TV screen while the doc irritates him by asking him which shape he sees on the TV screen while she sticks a bunch of different lenses and stuff in front of his eyes. Four objects-house, square, apple, circle- for at least thirty minutes. He's three. Eventually he starts saying, "Ugh, I already told you! It's a house!" complete with dramatic sigh and slumping in the chair. His doc is awesome though and totally gets that after about five minutes he is just bored out of his mind. Which is why she laughed when he told her to open her drawer (where she keeps a couple of toys and lots of lenses and eye doctoring things) and let him have a toy. He picked out the Elmo on roller skates. His favorite and then proceeded to stuff it in his pocket while she was out of the room adjusting his glasses. (Of course I was not about to let him actually get away that.) She came back in and he pulled Elmo out of his pocket and she acted really surprised that Elmo was hiding... and then let him pick a toy out of the treasure box. Pretty good appointment, especially when I was prepared to dish out a bunch of money and it ended up being only $40. Even better.

Then I returned to my mom's house (she was watching the other two trouble makers) and Rose fell asleep before I could leave so I ended up staying there until 5. So... my house revolted while I was away, because I didn't listen to my own advice and clean everything before I left. I have a sink full of dirty dishes, an enormous pile of clothes to sort and wash, at least 13 pairs of shoes to trip over and various other mundane things to tend to. I'm hoping to be back later (no promises) and be way more exciting and more caffeinated. Being caffeinated takes things to a whole new level, ya know.

Nothing Happened and Ry is 3!

That's a lie. Things did happen yesterday. The first significant thing has to do with Ry Guy and glasses. Then there is the other significant thing: NO rain.

For a couple months we have noticed something "off" with Ry's vision. We finally wrangled some money to see the eye doctor and (I was right) he needs glasses. He has what is called Strabismus or crossed eyes. His left eye muscles haven't developed properly and he also needs prescription lenses. I'm just really happy that this is a correctable problem. We get to start some eye exercises to increase his muscle strength looking to his left with his left eye. He picked blue glasses and looked super adorable in them at the doctor's office. Ry did amazing with the shape chart and would tell the doc, "That's another circle...that's a square...a heart...that's a house...I already told you, that's a square!" It got pretty boring for him but he stayed with us and didn't loose focus. Then we had to dilate his eyes. This was definitely the worse part. He hated getting the drops in his eyes, but did get a new car out of the treasure box for being a good sport. While we were finding him glasses he ddecided he was done and wouldn't look at me or the lady helping pick out his glasses. I got three pair on him before he went into "Let's get outta here" mode. (It had been 2 hours and past nap time.) I vetoed the Harry Potter glasses (I don't know what the lady was thinking when she put those on him), tried to have him try on a rectangular type which I didn't really see because at that point he was laying on the floor, so I choose the squarish frames that I did see on him for like 3 seconds. Overall, my 2 year and 364 day old son stayed on ridiculously good behavior for me. (Today is his 3rd birthday! We are partying Saturday although he is getting a gift tonight and I put candles on his cinnamon rolls this morning and sang Happy Birthday to him.)

As for the significant rain, which we desperately need, there was none. We have been under 2 tornado watches (Monday and Tuesday) with a whopping 20% chance of rain. In case I failed to mention it we live in Texas and are in an Exceptional Drought (which is the worst possible). I'm sure if you have watched the news (even national news) you probably have heard about all the terrible wild fires in Texas. We seriously need rain, but apparently all we can get is lots of wind (bad, bad, bad!) and tornadoes. Last night I was super hopeful because I saw this incredible cloud coming across the sky and it totally let me down. 

This cloud was moving south to north with the sunset

behind it. 

This was coming straight over our house moving the same direction but higher in the atmosphere. 

Nothing happened.

Even though I packed the diaper bag in case we needed to get to our storm shelter. (Which is just another house out here, only it has a slab foundation and is very sturdy.)

That was that. Now I need to get my list ready and head to the grocery store to pick up a few things. 

Happy Birthday Ry-Guy. Love you always and forever, 

Mama