Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The Better To See You With My Dear

So.....today the children had eye exams. Their first ever because we have never had coverage for them and have never been able to afford to get them exams but now, thanks for the state children's medical I have them on, I was able to take them in.

And guess what? Kaylen needs glasses. In a big way. Go ahead...just pass that bad mommy award over here. I deserve it. My gut has always told me to take them in prior to now it just wasn't feasible.

As it turns out, the vision issues she has can be traced back to oxygen deprivation at birth, the oxygen "tent" thing she was in for a while and her pallid breath holding spells.

On the plus side of all this, it's good that we caught it before she started reading as it would be difficult for her eyes to work together to read/track properly. One of her eyes crosses a bit though it isn't noticeable to look at her. Eventually though, her brain might have decided to stop working with it and she could very well have lost vision in her one eye. He asked that we discourage "eye crossing" games as it will encourage her eye to do what he is hoping to correct.

Kelton is far-sighted as well but not enough to "need" correcting at this point. We'll keep an eye on him though and see how he progresses. Kaylen needs to be seen in 6 months because the eye doctor knows he isn't doing the full correction she needs now because her eyes fought him too much on the right Rx due to straining to work as well as they do for so long. Right now she needs a +3 and he expects it may go to a +4 in time. She will be moving up in increments of +1.25 as her eye muscles learn to relax.

Oy. Certainly not what I was expecting but I'm glad I was able to take them in and that we can help Kaylen now rather than later when it's a bigger problem.

The free (waaaaaaay ugly!) DHSH glasses are taking 5-6 months to come in so I ordered her a pair of those to use as back up and then went ahead and ordered her a regular pair because they will be here in 14 days or less.

So in two weeks, my Little Miss will be sporting her new pair of spectacles,

2 comments:

Casey said...

Yes. I deleted all comments and I have put on comment moderation. Thanks to all who are supportive.

L said...

I think that a lot of the previous commentators on this subject have missed the mark here. Not being particularly regligious, the line that comes to mind is "there but for the grace of God, go I"

Way too many people sit in their comfortable world passing judgement on others not giving a second thought to the fact that your life is fragile and can all come crashing down around you in a heartbeat.

It can all change with a phone call: A parent who you thought was financially solvent and healthy now needs astronomically expensive care and their financial solvency was just a facade so you wouldn't worry. A grown child who appeared to be doing well is diagnosed with major health problems that far exceed any ability that they have to pay, leaving them, their spouse and your grandchildren homeless and destitute. Your spouse comes home with news that their employer has declared bankruptcy and they are not only out of a job and insurance but have lost their pension as well.

Really easy to judge from the outside and decide what you'll do until it is you. And then, you'll hope people show some compassion.

Words to think about before typing words of criticism especially in an open forum.....

Seems to me this whole post was about a little girl who really needed eyeglasses and thanks to a government program provided to families with low incomes, was able to have an eye exam and get glasses before she lost her sight in one eye. Seems to me the comments should be made by people who are happy to see a 5 year old start school with her vision corrected so she can be succesful in school and later in life.