Blindsided by Nearsightedness

I've still got 81 more days until I'm a mom to two—though some may argue I'm already a mom to two, but unless I'm changing diapers while chasing after my ten year old, I'm still a mom to one in my mind—yet I had my first experience with missing signs that something is up with one kid due to worrying about another.

I feel absolutely horrible that my worries about the baby and all the [still needed] preparations have allowed me to miss the fact that the kiddo is having a hard time seeing far away. And that's just heartbreaking and something I've always said I never wanted to happen.

While sitting on the couch and watching TV I asked the kiddo to tell me the time, which he did, after squinting and moving a bit closer to the TV.

The next morning I called the school to speak with his teacher. I wanted to, no, needed to know if it was something that we all missed, or just me. Luckily for my conscious she hasn't noticed anything. After that call, I made one to the eye doctor and took the soonest available appointment—four days away.

As any parent of a special needs child knows, going to a new doctor for a new issue, is a huge issue in of itself. So after the appointment was made I whipped out my iPhone and hunted out some "what to expect at the eye doctor exam" videos (there are actually quite a few on there, surprisingly!).

We talked about what was happening in each video and joked a bit about what wouldn't happen (No, the eye doctor won't poke you in the eye!). We also talked about how needing glasses would be a good thing because then he could see better.

Friday arrived and we headed to the eye doctor after school. I was still a bit nervous as new places, especially to see new doctors, usually cause a bit of a scene, but we went in and he seemed generally happy to be there. So much so that he actually told me I could wait in the waiting room while he went in with the woman for the pre-exam. Unfortunately he thought that was the whole exam. So there was a bit of moaning and groaning along with hesitation when it was time to go in to see the doctor.

He was visibly nervous but with some coaxing, he sat in the chair. And due to his language/communication disabilities, there was a bit of trouble with following the light with his eyes and not his head. But we were able to get through it and move on to the final part of the exam—the refractor.

I have to admit I started clenching my jaw while this part of the exam was going on. The way the refractor was set up, I could see the eye chart, albeit mirror imaged, on the opposite wall. This was a heartbreaking moment as I realized just how off his eyes have been. I could easily read the chart yet he was saying Cs were Os and Es were Fs and so on. My heart truly sank. How could I have not seen this sooner?

Luckily enough the doctor said his eye issues aren't that terrible. He is nearsighted, but will only require glasses for blackboard and TV use. Not completely terrible, but saddening just the same. We picked our chins up, picked out some nice glasses—said a little prayer that they won't be lost too quickly—and are now looking forward to new found sight in 7-10 business days.

Tags: doctors, exam, eye doctor, eyes, new doctor, special needs