An Eye For An Eye

Took Rebecca to the eye doctor for an exam and possibly some glasses yesterday afternoon. Who would've thought it would turn into something major?

I'm expecting to walk in, get her eyes checked, find out she needs glasses for reading, spend an hour picking out frames, and leaving a little lighter in the pocketbook. Unfortunately, this is not how it played out. Everything went as I expected up until the diagnosis. Dr. S informed us that Rebecca's right eye is "much worse" than her left eye, which is causing focus issues, thus making it very difficult for her to read.....anything.

I was like, "wha...?" I had no idea she was having such difficulties. What a bad mother I am. How could I let her suffer like this, especially with my own eye problems?!

The recommendation? "We could put her in bifocals," says Dr. S. "She has difficulties with close up AND far away reading. I think she would do OK with bifocals."

Wait a minute. A ten year old.....in bifocals?

"Or," continues Dr. S, "I think Rebecca may benefit from vision therapy."

Vision therapy? I have never heard of such a thing.

"She would see a specialist who would help her to exercise the muscles of her right eye so it won't be so lazy. Her right eye is essentially acting like a lazy eye that doesn't float. It's making the left eye do all the work. The right eye is getting weaker and weaker. With vision therapy, we could probably get her out of bifocals within six months, and possibly out of glasses altogether in the near future."

I liked the sound of that once I got past the loud beating of my heart in my ears. When she first started talking about anything but normal vision correction, I thought I might cry. I don't know for sure that Choroidal Osteoma is hereditary. I've been told it isn't, but what if?

So, we leave the optometrist's office having only paid $10 for the exam, and with the number of the specialist to call. No glasses until the specialist sees her and gives her opinion.

I guess it could be worse. The eyes themselves look good, with no signs of anything abnormal, and except for some extra work on Rebecca's part, it ended up just a little more than I expected.