Pirate Training

When we went to the eye doctor six months ago, Katie was near sighted but the doctor decided to hold off on the glasses because she was under a year old and “her world is close to her at such a young age.”  Katie’s doctor told us she would likely get glasses at her check up this time.  Her appointment was yesterday and she does need glasses.  Her numbers are -3.75 and -3.50 with astigmatism. Not a major correction at this time, but she should notice an improvement which hopefully will make her want to keep her glasses on!

Her glasses are on order and due this Friday.  They are little baby wire rimmed glasses that are super flexible.  They tried the more goggle looking ones but her eyelashes are so long they would rub against the lenses and annoy her.  The ones she is getting are designed for children with DS and their typically wider nose bridge.

In addition, her left eye is a little weak and sometimes crosses for a second when trying to focus on things. In the past, doctors had taught me to look at the reflections in her eyes to see if they were crossed.  Since her nose is wider than a typical person, it often looks like her eyes are crossed when they are not.  If the reflections are in the same place in each eye they are not crossed.  I have been checking her reflections a lot in the last three weeks or so.  She corrects the crossing so quickly that I couldn’t convince myself that it was real crossing.  Well, the doctors noticed it immediately.  Her left eye is a little weaker than the right and so crosses, then corrects quickly, as she focuses on things.  Her right eye does it some too, which is good news, suggesting weaker muscles, not an underlying issue with one eye.  Children with Down syndrome have low muscle tone, so it is common for the muscles in the eye to be a bit weaker too.  The doctor believes the glasses alone would correct the crossing, but at the last minute decided to patch too.  She only has to wear the patch 1 hour per day for about three months, until our next appointment.  The patch is put on her right eye (stronger eye) to force her left eye (weaker eye) to work harder and strengthen.   If it is not corrected in three months, she might need to wear it for more hours of the day.  

I am never sure what people think about the way we handle these situations.  I heard from one mother of a child with Down syndrome that in terms of medical issues "it just seems like one damn thing after another".  I kind of feel that way about this. Mike and I both wear glasses, Katie is used to seeing them, and hopefully she will wear them.  I am mostly worried about having to fight her about wearing them.  Katie actually having them and needing them doesn’t bother me at all.  Regarding the patch, 1 hour a day is great, she doesn’t have to wear it in public, but I don’t think it would bother me even if she needed too.  I would much rather nip this now than wait and have it get worse.  Ellee LOVES pirates and thinks it is the greatest thing ever, so we are going to embrace the patch, have fun, and fix her eyes too.  Win win.

In other news, we had a cardiology check up last week. Everything looks great and her next check is in six months.  He wants to keep seeing her since she is still growing so quickly.  When her growth slows down we will switch to yearly visits.