Sunday, January 23, 2011

The 9 lives of the contact lenses

A quick update on Jack, as it's been awhile since my last post.  He's doing GREAT.  He loves daycare and I am eating crow and admitting that I'm actually enjoying being back at work.  The drive to pick him up after work is so exciting and I just love the little smile he gives me when he sees me.  Speaking of "seeing" me, his vision is great.  The contact lenses or glasses seem to give him a leg up and he's grabbing at things as small as the horse on David's polo shirt and my necklace. 

So on to the contact lenses, the bane of my existence.  We should have known that those bad boys were going to be a pain in the ass when it went missing the first time the doctor put them in.  Lost contacts have been found in his eye, in the bouncy chair, on the floor at daycare, laying in the crib, sitting on his cheek...
I am starting to believe that we have used up our "9 lives of contact lenses" since we have lost 2 in the past 2 weeks. siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. So why am I writing this instead of looking for the contact lens?  We've looked on our hands and knees with flashlights for the last 2 hours.  We have found a lot of stuff, including a sofa cushion that needs to be vacuumed and a pacifier clip we lost months ago.  We also learned that there are bits of Rocky on every square inch of this house.  Some things are better left unexplored!

I know everyone knows how much the contacts cost.  I feel like the dad in Father of the Bride who tells everyone how much his daughter's wedding is costing him.  Here's the best part - insurance won't cover them and have now denied our appeal. 

So here's the hard part.  Why are we doing this to ourselves?  The glasses fit much better than they used to and he doesn't seem to mess with them as much.  You can tell when glasses go missing.  You don't have to pin him down to get the glasses on and off.  They don't cost $150 every time half of them goes missing.  I know everyone seems to think he's "so adorable" in the glasses, and I'll admit it - the kid can pull them off.  It's just not the same.  We want to give him every opportunity to live his life like he didn't have major eye surgery at 3 months of age.  Anyone reading this with any advice, please feel free to share.  We've got a long way to go!

3 comments:

  1. First Lindsay you are doing fantastic. I love reading your blog.... I usually just laugh at how much I understand of motherhood. I am sorry you are facing this. I have been wearing glass since I was five but that has nothing to do with what your little guys has. I am sorry that this has happened to your family. He is certainly cute with glasses but I understand where you are coming from with wanting him to have every opportunity to see and enjoy the world. I don't have advice other than keep plugging along. He will be over a year soon enough and then everytime you see him touch his eye you can push his hand away. It may be a habit that he doesn't know he is doing. By pushing it away you will bring attention to it. (Sariah my daughter would itch until she bled). I am sorry. Keep up the good work mama!!

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  2. Thanks, Dollie! I know you guys have been through your fair share of trials, and it's nice to have that "mom" connection! Your family is beautiful!

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  3. Hi Lindsay. Sorry to hear you guys are having trouble with the contacts. We did lose a few contacts when Lindsey was a baby and several times found them on her cheek, in the carseat, etc. A couple times we even found them days/weeks later - in case your doctor didn't tell you, don't throw them out if that happens b/c they are fine if you put them back in some solution. Even when we stopped losing the contacts after the first year, Lindsey's prescription changed several times the next year requiring new contacts (I'm not sure how the cost compares to changing out the lenses in glasses). It will definitely get easier as Jack gets older because he won't rub the contacts out and if something happens, he'll be able to tell you if one comes out. But I know it's tough to decide what to do in the meantime. I've heard that a lot of toddlers that start wearing glasses at around 12-18 months old refuse to keep them on so if Jack does well with them now, maybe it's a good thing to use them so he is used to them and then go back to contacts when he's a little older. Right around Lindsey's 2nd birthday she had a lot of eye irritation and started wearing glasses exclusively. She did that for over a year. She did great with them and loved them (still does) but we try to keep her in contacts most of the time now since her eyes seem to be tolerating them and it's easier for things she is doing now such as swim lessons and sports. Hope this helps a little... good luck!

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