Big words for a crossed eye and loss of vision in that eye. Sammy's opthamology appointment yesterday was hard for me. Obviously, I'm the grown-up and need to be optimistic and encouraging but I admit to crying (silently and with dignity bookgroup people!) in the van on the way home.
Sam has an eye that has been crossing (Strabismus) for a little over 3 weeks. I don't know what was happening with his vision before that but the vision in his bad eye is quite poor now. That is the ambloypia. His brain has turned off the signal from his crossed eye so that it doesn't become confused with the image it receives from the good one. It was so hard to watch him struggle to read the picture chart. He wanted to do well and I could tell he was pleased when he got it right. When his good eye was covered he started to guess and then just started saying, "I don't know." I gave him the thumbs up but I could tell he was disappointed having to say that. In order to improve the vision in his left eye he will need to wear a patch over his good eye for 4 hours a day for an undetermined length of time -- I suppose until they know how his eye responds to this treatment. He will also need to wear glasses to deal with the crossing which they believe is a focusing problem. It crosses more when he is trying to focus on something close to him but his eye muscle overcompensates. A single corrective lens won't fix the problem so he will be in bifocals. She sort of grimaced when she told me that so I imagine they aren't very cute. I guess there is an actual line on the lens so that he doesn't have to work at finding the right lens for what he needs to do. We went to the optical shop after his appointment and ordered his glasses. They will arrive in a week and then the whole patching regimen will begin.
I love his eyes. They are my eyes. I will miss his face as it is now. And I realize that many parents deal with far worse. It's just hard to watch life happen to my children.
His eye when he's watching a movie. Poor kid.
2 comments:
Hey Lucy-- it might be a good idea to email Lei at "My Many Colored Days" if you need a shoulder to lean on. Her oldest dd (who is seven, I think) has strabismus. It's a great blog too-- she's from our year at BYU.
Sorry-- I know that must be hard news to hear.
That totally stinks and so sad for Sammy. We will be praying and thinking about you guys. Hopefully they will have a solution for his eye soon! Hugs from us!!
He does have beautiful brown eyes!!
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