Eye Appointments

We took both boys to the ophthalmologist yesterday. Overall it was a good checkup, but there was a little bad news.

Gray's check up was great. It was just an interim check up, so he didn't have his eyes dilated. Dr. Packwood said he's using his eyes together very well. There are no concerns. He was scheduled for another appointment in 4 months. He'll get a prescription for bifocals at that time.

Yes, I did just say bifocals for our 2 year old. The natural lens in eyes can adjust it's focus depending on the distance of the object you are looking at. Since Gray has no lenses he can't adjust his focus. His single focus glasses let him focus on objects that are fairly close to him. The bifocals will give him a greater field of focus. Or something like that.

Nate's news was not so good. While Dr. Packwood said it didn't look like there was a lot of progression in the cataracts, Nate's vision had dropped a good bit. On his last visit he was seeing 20/60 out of both eyes. This time he was testing at 20/100 and 20/70. He's getting new glasses that will hopefully improve his vision back to it's previous acuity. Dr. Packwood says that he thinks the longest we'll be able to put off cataract surgery is next summer. There is about a 50% chance that Nate will need the surgery during the school year. Dr. Packwood wants Nate to be seen in 4 month intervals. Nate has an appointment with the retina specialist in September, so we don't have to take him back to Dr. Packwood until January, unless there are big changes between now and September.

So, while that sounds like a lot of bad news, really the worst part is that Nate might have to have the surgery during the school year. Missing school probably won't bother him, but it does concern me. Actually, it's the time we'll be waiting for glasses to get made that concerns me. Nate would only be upset about missing basketball or football practice or games.

I think both doctors are still on the same page. I also think that the surgery will make a really positive impact on Nate's life. Those are the good things, so that's what I'll concentrate on, even though I'll be praying that his eyes will be stable for the next 10 months.