Sunday, July 21, 2013

An update

I'm three!
This is a couple of weeks late because I was trying to forget about the 2 and a half hour trip to the ophthalmologist. They always warn you the appointment could be up to 2 hours because of dilation, but when our appointment is at 10 and Jack wasn't dilated until 11:15....on top of the 2 month old and 3 year old....ok, clearly not over it yet!




Anyways, this was a 2-for-1 visit. The doctor would like to check Baby E during Jack's 6 month check ups just to keep an eye (pun totally intended) on things. So far, so good! Baby E is exactly the age now that Jack was when we discovered his cataracts, so we were holding our breath a little. We've also noticed that she is sooooooo much more social than he ever was at this age. Hindsight is always 20/20 (again, with the eye references!) but he couldn't see us at this point and therefore, couldn't really interact.

So, here's where we stand with Jack. Because he is now 3 and starting preschool soon, he will be going to bifocals. Up until this point, his vision was a corrected compromise. Far away wasn't perfect and up close wasn't perfect, but for his age, that was about right. Now that he will be reading, writing, etc., the doctor wants to be sure that his vision is clear for both.

My loves!
Now to the glasses...we don't have them yet, but the optometrist has warned us that doing bifocals at this strength of prescription is not a cosmetically easy thing to do. It requires something called a lenticular lens, where they won't be able to grind down the lenses, leaving part of the bifocal rather thick. (Thicker than they are now, if you've seen Jack's glasses up close.) Because of this, plus the fact that Jack is much more active (swimming, soccer, etc.) and starting preschool, we are going to give contacts another shot. It's been 18 months since we did it last. The hope is that being 3 brings a bit more understanding, less physical restraining, and the ability to accept bribes. So far, we've had him watching daddy put his contacts in, saving an old pair to play with, and watching other young children have theirs put in and taken out. I'm definitely open to suggestions! Hopefully, we have them in the next week or 2. (Edit: Jack just watched Monsters, Inc. for the first time, and we made a huge deal when Mike puts his contact in before work.  He got a kick out of that!)

So, all in all, it was a good visit. A few changes in the pipeline, but no major adjustments. It looks like we can start talking about implants (IOLs) when Jack turns 5, so still a ways to go!!!!