They were right! (And not crazy.)

Days before Jack’s first surgery, we were put in contact with a local family who had been through the same process.  They graciously called us and told us about their experiences and answered our many, many questions.  I sat sobbing on the couch while I listened to stories of anesthesia, doctor visits, patching, glasses, and lost contacts.  My heart was broken into a million pieces and the whole conversation was a blur, except for one thing in particular that still stands out to me.  At one point, they shared that even though at the time, things seemed so bad, once they had gotten through it all, it didn’t stop them from having more children, knowing that another child could have cataracts.  Well, that blew me away.  When D hung up the phone, I about laughed.  “Are they CRAZY?  There’s no way I could go through this again!” was all I could think. 

Well, G and J, thank you for your wisdom.  You were right (and not crazy). :)



 

I’m not worried about the numbers.  The chance of Jack having cataracts was one is a kazillion, the chances of his little brother or sister having it is a little smaller, like one in a bazillion.  So even though we are praying hard that we don’t have to do it again, we could if we had to.  And if we do, let’s hope it’s a boy so I can get some more use out of all these blue frames!!!!

Beauty is in the eye of the (2 year old) beholder

This picture was taken just moments after someone (a grandmother, nonetheless!) asked me if Jack would be able to get "more fashionable glasses" when he's older.  Perhaps you felt the world shake as my heart broke into a million tiny pieces.  I fought back the tears as  Jack ran happily around one of our new favorite indoor playgrounds.  It didn't phase him one bit. I felt sorry for him, and let's be honest, myself, until I was able to snap this picture.  I finally realized that when Jack looks in the mirror, this is what he sees.  Pure happiness - enjoying a day out with mom, jungle gyms and more importantly, a room dedicated to train tables. He really does not care that he wears glasses.  It's all he's known since he was 3 months old, so why would he think any differently?



I've carried such a burden on my shoulders since the day we found out he had cataracts. When we are at the grocery store, Jack sits there happily munching his free cookie (thank you, Harris Teeter) while I am constantly looking over my shouder to see if that woman is still staring, or if I can hear the child ask his mom why that baby is wearing glasses. The momma bear instinct just kicks in, and no matter what, it can't be quelled.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not mourning for a child without glasses. In fact, when Jack pulls them off at night, he's just not the same kid. I wonder to myself if, without glasses, he would be as funny, or as loving or as smart. I just think his resilience has made him into this super awesome kid! Now I know there may come a day when he looks in the mirror and sees what everyone has been staring at all these years. Be careful because the earth will shake when my heart breaks again. But, I pray that this smart and funny kid will just have so much to offer the world, that it won't a bit of difference. And let's be honest, there's a lot less to stare at when you see a five year old wearing glasses as opposed to a five month old.

So until then, Jack, keep making us laugh and giving us hugs. You can tell me, "Jack so silly" until the cows come home. We love you so much!

Happiness is...

...having your toddler shush you during "Twinkle Twinkle" because you've taught him all the words and he wants to sing it alone.

A lot of times, my blog is about all the negatives that we face...the lost contacts or the rude comments. That's only because those are the things that move me and compel me to come running to the blog. Truth be told, those days are few and far between. We are LUCKY.

This past weekend, I was able to participate in completing a garden for the angel baby of a friend from college. There's something very humbling about being out in the early morning, surrounded by the strength and love of other people and the wonders of God's earth on a beautiful day when the sun wasn't supposed to shine.

Since the ultimate purpose of this blog is to provide a resource for parents of children born with cataracts, please know that a year and a half later, we are feeling LUCKY. The worst part of our day was that Jack didn't take a very good nap and was a whiny mess by the end of the night. Sure, his glasses were foggy from all of his whining, but on than that, being a child with cataracts did not make his day any different from other typical almost 2 year olds. So yes, visit my early posts for a preview of what's to come. The beginning is scary.

But at the end of the day, we are thankful for this, glasses or not!

They're not goggles!!!!!

    For those of you who follow the blog regularly, you'll remember how excited we were that Jack's prescription had gone down. We don't notice anymore, but every now and then, we still get the comment, "Those make his eyes look huge!!" Well, yes. Yes, they do. His prescription is about 10 times stronger than the average person walking around. Anyways, when we got the new lenses, we noticed a difference right away. They were so much thinner! In our eyes, they almost looked like regular glasses, but I guess we need our eyes checked as well, because the comments keep flowing in!

     The most recent barrage we've gotten refers to them as goggles. We were at the pool, and I overheard a young child say to her mom, "Look, that baby has goggles." She and her mom proceeded to go back and forth a few times debating on whether they were goggles or glasses. We were standing about 2 feet away, so when I say overheard, I really mean we could have been part of the conversation. This happens a lot, but parents typically try to change the subject and get their young child off of the topic all together. In these instances, I wish people would JUST ASK. Don't ask if they're real. If you find someone who puts fake glasses on their toddler, please send them my way because I'd like to find an example. Ask how we knew he needed them. Tell him that you like his glasses. Don't whisper right next to us, because last time I checked, glasses were not for people with hearing issues. I CAN STILL HEAR YOU!!

    Ok, so we were at the pool for that one, so I'll give the benefit of the doubt. But 2 days later, we had the same comment about him wearing his swim goggles, and this time, we were at Church! Ok, we've had our days with Jack where he refuses to wear anything but an Elmo shirt, or his Brobee shoes, but trust me, I would draw the line at letting him wear swim goggles to Church.

    So most of this post is ranting about the bad stuff, but there's so many bright spots as well. Jack made a friend at the park the other day. He came right up to Jack and asked, " What's on his face?" My heart sank for a second as I started to go into the whole, "Those are glasses...they help him see" rant, but then I realized this little guy was looking straight past Jack's glasses, and pointing to the giant cut on his head. (He lost a battle with a patio chair.)

    Moral of the story is that while we are very wrapped up and in tune with what people are saying, Jack is so incredibly normal. He has the same bumps and bruises as any other almost 2 year old, and they haven't slowed him down a bit!! (The bruises OR the glasses!)

"Normal" for a day

I am not exactly sure what constitutes being "normal," but I have learned that most people don't consider a toddler in glasses very normal based on the endless stares and questions we get anytime we are out. Of course, Jack is immune to it, and I pray that he remains that way for as long as possible. This past week, we had a sneak peek of some beautiful spring weather, so Jack and I headed to the park with his friend from daycare, who also happens to wear glasses. I was excited to have her come along because what's cuter than a toddler in glasses? That's right - two toddlers in glasses!! We did have two people ask if they were twins...while they are both beautiful children, they look nothing alike apart from the fact that they both wear glasses. Anyways, that wasn't the reason that our trip to the park that day was so special. I heard a mom say, "Look, that little boy has glasses like you." I hear this a lot, but it's usually directed towards older children who wear very normal reading glasses or are wearing sunglassess, but today was different. I looked up to find another toddler wearing blue Miraflex frames! Well, if that wasn't exciting enough, we run to the other side of the playground and find yet another toddler in glasses. That means we are up to FOUR toddlers at the park in glasses. For once, kids stopped to stare at Jack's glasses because they were the same ones he was wearing! He got to look up and be face to face with kids that looked just like him. I know it didn't mean much to him that day, but it meant a whole lot to me that for one short afternoon, a toddler in glasses was completely "normal."


Holy growth spurt!

Today was Jack's official ophthalmologist check-up appointment (the other week was just practice!!!) I always get so nervous before these appointments, even though I really don't have anything to be concerned about, especially since we were just in there two weeks ago. But I have walked in there before thinking nothing was wrong and been knocked back a peg, so I can speak from experience.
Anyways, today's appointment was GREAT!! The doctor wanted to see him in his contacts first to check the fit, so that was really fun trying to get those in after 2 months of being in glasses only. I think we had the element of surprise on our hands, since it went fairly well. It was also an 8:15 am appointment so we caught Jack a little sleepy.
The most exciting part of the appointment was that Jack had a major prescription change. His contacts were decreased by 4...points, degrees, ???, whatever it's called. He was a +22 and now he's a +18. The glasses are down to a +16!!! We were really excited because this is proof that his eyes are growing and developing as normally as possible. His eyes are still normal toddler eyes, they just don't have lenses to correct his focus, hence the changing prescription.
So, back to the optometrist to get new lenses for the glasses. This could possibly explain why he was looking out of the corner of them last week. We may never know, but that's ok, because those are the lenses I'm getting replaced with the new prescription anyways.
No patching at the moment, but the doctor said we are not out of the woods yet and will probably have to patch eventually. Jack has defied a lot of odds up until now, so I'll just keep hope that we can evade that as well!!
If you've stayed with me this far, thanks for reading! As always, feel free to leave comments or shoot me a message.

...and we're back!!!

Again, it's been too long since my last update. Don't worry, my New Year's resolution is to do better!!! Here's an update on Jack. We entered the world of patching for a half a minute. We were only supposed to do it for 30 minutes a day, so I ordered a felt patch from framehuggers.com that fit right over his glasses. I was hesitant to use the sticky ones only because it was for such a short time. We did great with it for a couple of days. I would put it on as soon as he woke up, and by the time he'd eaten breakfast, it was time to come off. We even did a sticker chart and he earned a giant Brobee pillow. After a week or two, it became a struggle, so we gave up and tried to patch with the contacts.

Ohhhhhh the contacts. I actually got them in all by myself twice!!! We were doing so well. We are still in the Flex Lenses, which seem to suit his eyes and don't cause the eye boogers we got in the Silsofts. They also were fitting great...but apparently Jack's eyes grew, because we lost 2 of them - one we owned for less than an hour!! We don't go back to the dr to get refitted until the end of the month, so we are strictly glasses now.

One concern I have is that Jack hasn't figured out that his peripheral vision is blocked in the glasses. He loses things in his line of sight when he's looking straight forward because he just moves his eyes up and not his whole head. Does that make sense?? It's not a vision issue, thankfully. He also seems to be looking out of the right side of his glasses all the time now, so we need to get that looked at ASAP to see if it's a prescription issue or a lens issue. Will update with that info!

Other than that, glasses and/or contacts have not slowed this kid down one bit. He even did an entire puzzle without his glasses on, which makes us go hmmmmm. It will be do wonderful when Jack can actually communicate to us what's going on! For now, it's just a guessing game, and that can get frustrating for all of us!!! He is just such a fun kid and we are so lucky that he has gone so unphased through all of this!!!!!