Four Eyes (Or, Aaarrrgh)

(I had planned to write about this for "Talk Like a Pirate Day" but then I couldn't find the pirate picture I was going to use and then Pirate Day came and went and so I just gave up on having a theme. Sigh.)

Yes, John has glasses now. You probably noticed in some of the pictures. He is officially bespectacled and it couldn't be any cuter.

Back in June, we noticed that John's right eye would cross towards his left when he was talking to us or trying to focus. I took him to the pediatrician here in Shanghai to make sure that it wasn't something neurological, and she referred us to a specialist who checked his vision. We got a diagnosis of really bad vision in his right eye. Really, really bad. And the bad vision was causing the crossing.

A quick aside -- John has a story Bible that uses X's over some animals' eyes to illustrate that they are dead. Common cartoon use, right? John had asked me once what the X's meant and I told him. So we're sitting in the pediatrician's office and the nurse asks me why we're there, and I tell her that his eyes are crossing? John totally freaks out thinking that he's going to die. And then a few minutes later he finds out that he can't see. It was a great day.

The pediatrician recommended a follow up visit in the U.S., so when we got to Austin, we went back to the same doctor who performed John's sty surgery in 2008 (side note -- how was that only LAST year?!). She confirmed the diagnosis, which was no small feat considering that the only appointment we could get was the Monday after we arrived -- less than 48 hours stateside -- and John was asleep for most of the exam.

So THEN we went to Houston for glasses, on a referral to the most fabulous optical shop around (Insight Optical, on Sunset @ Morningside, in case anyone needs to know). His glasses are precious. Costly, but precious. And as we found out when we tried to buy a back-up pair at the various mall optical shops, his face is so small and his prescription so strong that we wold have had a hard time getting his glasses anywhere else.

But, he wouldn't wear them. Screamed every time he put them on. So we went back to Houston to have them refitted. Better, but now they were the wrong prescription.

Next stop was another eye doctor in Minneapolis. He needed to be re-checked 3 weeks after starting glasses, but since we weren't going to be back in Austin, our doc there referred us to one of her friends. We managed to squeeze in an appointment, had the full exam now that John was over jet lag enough to stay awake, and sent the glasses BACK to Houston to be remade for the right prescription.

So, that is the saga. Here is the official diagnosis. Accomdative Esotropia and Amblyopia. Fun, right? It means that the vision in his right eye is so poor (farsighted) that his brain pretty much stopped using that side and allowed that eye to become "lazy", floating over to the left side to help with his vision. It's a form of strabismus, and is pretty common. The poor kid had no idea that he couldn't see out of his right eye until the first eye exam in Shanghai. We didn't know, either.

In addition to the glasses, he has to wear a patch for two hours each day over his good (left) eye, to help train his brain to use the right eye again. He should have to do this for 6 months to a year. We'll go to a third eye doctor -- this time in Singapore -- closer to Christmas to evaluate how he's progressed so far and how much longer we have to do it.

He's taken to it pretty well so far. We've lucked out in a number of ways -- 1) he already wanted to be a pirate again for Halloween, so we've been able to work that theme. 2) he has a friend here with a more severe form of the condition, so he knows someone else who wears glasses and a patch. 3) the patches come in cool patterns and colors. 4)he is easily bribed.

I picked up some pirate coins while were were in the U.S., and when he wears his patch without fussing, he earns a coin. When he gets 10 coins, he deposits them at the "Bank of Mama" and gets a receipt for a prize. I'm working on a pirate treasure chest so that he can pick some things out, but for his first award he chose a box of Lucky Charms from the import store. Outrageously expensive here, but hey, it's a prize AND breakfast. And I couldn't make this up -- as we were leaving the store, some other children were walking behind us. John was carrying the box, and as soon as he saw them he started running towards our building. He said, "Mom, I have to run. Those boys are trying to get my Lucky Charms!"