little four eyes

It has been a long time since we have had a lot of questions and comments about Elly’s glasses. This weekend we took a family get-away to the beach and I feel like EVERYONE had something to say or wanted to know more about how I could tell she needed glasses, was it easy, how does she keep them on, and more…. Then when I opened the Comic Section on Sunday, I just had to laugh… Here is most of what that was featured.

What are the things that other adults say that make you feel good? Or ones that make you cringe?

This comes from a post on the little four eyes facebook group.  -Ann Z

I am interested in hearing about stories of success..or even progress, on babies who grew out of their significant farsightedness & do not have to wear glasses anymore…I know it happens, but I don’t hear much about it. I think it would be encouraging to hear!

Ann Z again – this reminds me of an interaction I recently had:  I was at a kid’s gym with Zoe and started talking to some of the parents about kids and glasses.  One woman told me that her two kids wore glasses as toddlers and outgrew them after just a couple of years. I told her it was great news that I was thrilled to hear her story.  And then she asked me what Zoe’s prescription is. It’s +4.25, which falls right in the moderate range. She looked really surprised and said her kids had a prescription of under +1.

• Young children’s eye care in Nepal.  A very interesting and eye-opening (pun intended.  sorry) account of traveling to Nepal to provide eye care for children there by the organization Seva Canada.
• Families Connecting with Families International Conference.  National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments (NAPVI), Junior Blind of America, and The Braille Institute are pleased to be co-sponsoring this event.  Some of the sessions sound very interesting for parents of children with visual impairments.
• Have you voted in the Children’s Eye Foundation photo contest yet?  We now have 8 entries (though Ingrid’s wasn’t up for voting last I checked).  We can fill this calendar with beautiful kids who have needed eye care at a young age!

There’s been quite a bit of discussion in the Photo Gallery comments sections on the guilt that we parents often feel (myself included), especially when we first learn that our child might have vision problems.  I wanted to acknowledge just how common this is.  I was floored when I started talking to other parents and realized I wasn’t the only one to be really upset by the news, even though I knew intellectually that Zoe’s eye problems are relatively minor, they still really threw me for a loop.  It’s easy to wonder what you might have done to cause it, how you could have missed the signs, but eye problems are not result of anything we did, and the signs can be so easy to miss.  But if you’re here, it’s probably because you’re getting your child’s eyes treated, which means you’re doing everything you can to help your child and there’s not a thing to feel guilty about (at least in terms of your child’s vision – those thank you notes I still haven’t written, those I can still feel a bit guilty about   ).   I don’t have anything profound to say beyond that, other than to let everyone know that they’re not alone in those feelings.

A picture of Zoe that triggers my guilt-reflex. From May 2008. I kept trying to convince myself that her eyes weren't crossing again, but it's clear looking back that they were.

Update – July 24, 2009 – the winning photos have been announced.  Congratulations to Zoe, Braden, and Reid who will appear in the calendar.  That means a quarter of the photos in the calendar came from this community!  Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who submitted a photo and voted!

Update – June 30, 2009 - the contest is now closed, thanks to everyone for participating!  According to the website, results will be posted by July 10.  I wish I’d grabbed final numbers, but that doesn’t seem to be an option.

Update – June 8, 2009: There are only a few weeks left in the contest.  The top 12 vote getters will receive digital cameras, but more importantly, the photos for the calendar will be chosen from the group that receives the most votes (I don’t know what the cut off is).  Please vote for the photos on this page to get them in to the running for the calendar!

Have I missed your photo? If you’ve submitted a picture and would like to be listed on this page, please email me (ann@shinypebble.com) or leave a comment.

18 photos submitted!! More than enough to make our own calendar… There are a lot of great new pictures there now! Check it out.

Voting information: I’ve gotten a few questions: Yes, you can vote more than once and for more than one photo.  To vote again, just close your browser and re-open it, or in Firefox, clear your cookies (note: this will affect more than just the voting page, for instance, if I clear my cookies, I have to re-log in to my blog to post).  Voting runs until June 30, 2009.

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I mentioned the Children’s Eye Foundation’s photo contest for their 2010 calendar in my post on Monday.  It’s been bothering me ever since that so many of the photos that have been submitted seem to have nothing to do with children’s eye care.  Now, to be fair, the theme of the calendar is “It’s a beautiful thing to see” and the site specifically says that pictures could be ” a child with glasses, a photo with children, or pretty much any beautiful thing.”  So, I guess most of the submitted pictures qualify.  But honestly, if the Children’s Eye Foundation publishes its “I care for eye care” calendar and it’s full of pictures of flowers and landscapes and puppies, but there aren’t at least a few pictures of kids in glasses?  Well, that’s just not right!

Happily, we’ve got at least 5 photo submissions from the Little Four Eyes community, and they’re great submissions, too!  I’m going to post the submitted photos here and if you click on a picture, it will take you to the voting page.  Again, no registration is necessary to vote, and you can vote for more than one picture! I know that we can all band together and make sure this calendar has pictures of our beautiful kids.

I’d also love to see more pictures from our community submitted.  Just take a look at our photo gallery and tell me that we aren’t a group with beautiful kids and good photography skills.  If you do submit a picture, let me know and as soon as I see it’s posted (it usually takes 24-48 hours), I’ll post that picture as well.  [Edited to add: One of the few restrictions is that you can only submit one photo per person.]  I’ll also link to this page from the sidebar, so if you’re ever looking for some way to fill some time, you can go back and vote some more (voting runs until June 30).  Pass along this link to friends and family, too, and ask them to vote with us.

Here are the photos submitted by Little Four Eyes parents to the Children’s Eye Foundation’s “I care for eye care” 2010 calendar contest. Click any picture to get to its voting page.  I’ll put newly submitted photos at the beginning of this group, so it should be easy to find new pictures if you check back later.  Vote for as many pictures as you like (including ones not from our group, there are other pictures that I quite like).

Page 57:

I see! by Jennifer. Peyton wears glasses for farsightedness.

Page 54:

Eli's First Pair of Glasses, by Becky. Eli wears glasses for farsightedness.

Page 51:

Look world, I can SEE, by Monica. Sofie wears glasses for farsightedness.

Page 43:

I see you, by Natalie. Nicky wears glasses for farsightedness.

Page 24:

Penny's beautiful eyes, by Nicole. Penny has cataracts.

Page 12:

Spring snow, by Momerabilia. Kate has amblyopia.

Page 11:

Pardon me, I can see, by Barb. Kaylee wears glasses for strabismus and amblyopia.

Page 10:

Mother and daughter, by Ingrid. Paris wears glasses for nearsightedness.

Peanutbutter bliss, by Melinda. Reid wears glasses for farsightedness.

I see you, by Jeana. Sophie wears glasses for nearsightedness.

Page 9:

Sleepy Eyes, by Ultravioletmama, an author at Amblyopia Kids. Maggie has amblyopia

My smiling eyes, by MT. Belle wears glasses and patches for amblyopia.

Page 8:

Trick or Treat, by Annie. Aubree wears glasses for farsightedness.

Exploring rocks by the ocean, by Amomofelly. Elly wears glasses for amblyopia.

hug me, by Danielle. Mia has a congenital cataract (and is fighting wearing glasses).

it's a beautiful creation, by Corrie. Ellie wears glasses for strabismus and amblyopia.

Lookin good, by Linda. Braden wears glasses for strabismus.

Page 7:

Zoe looks out over Lake Superior. Zoe wears glasses for strabismus.

We were so excited to get the new glasses (after almost 3 months of waiting)  In those 3 months, both of Elliana eyes started turning out more than before.  Our OP decided to increase her prescription  in her right eye.  She is a -7.75 in her right eye, but the first prescription  was for -5.5 with the hope that it would force her eyes to work harder and that we would maybe ward off an increase in the prescription as she ages.   The new prescription is now a -6.5.

We are not so excited about the fact that Elly refuses to wear her new glasses.  I think the new prescription is throwing her for a loop.  Thankfully we go in for another appointment soon.  Did anyone else have prescription changes?  If so, how did your kids react?

I think I’m going to try to keep the Monday morning round up as a way to share things I’ve come across that I don’t have the time to devote a full post to. If you have any news or find anything you want included, email me (ann @ shinypebble.com)!

• 

  the picture of Zoe that I entered in the Children's Eye Foundation's photo contest

  Children’s Eye Foundation is sponsoring a photo contest for its “I Care for Eyecare” calendar, with the theme “It’s a beautiful thing to see.”  More details are here.  It’s pretty much a perfect contest for all of us.  I’ve entered a picture of Zoe, and I’d love if you vote for her picture (it’s titled “Zoe looks out over Lake Superior”).  Let me know if you enter any of your kids and I’ll post the information so we can vote for each other’s kids.  There are 12 winners – each receiving a digital camera!
  Note: the page is once again up.  Check it out and vote!

• Amblyopia kids blogged about places that sell toy glasses for stuffed bears and dolls.
• I got an email from a PR person at Wal-Mart letting me know about their recent announcement to reduce costs for eyecare, specifically children’s frames and lenses.  We have not used Wal-Mart for Zoe’s glasses, so I cannot speak to their service or selection.  If anyone has experience with them, please weigh in.

Hope everyone has a great start to their week!

I’ve been wearing glasses since I was 8 – with a brief break in high school when I wore contacts – over 20 years in total. Nearly two thirds of my life. I still find myself forgetting to take off my glasses before putting on or taking off a shirt with a tight neck. Inevitably, I get stuck with the shirt half over my face, the neck stuck on my glasses, and me struggling to figure out the best way out of it.

Zoe, on the other hand, has only worn her glasses for 15 months. Now granted, that’s more than half her life, but she has still spent a smaller percentage of her life in glasses than I have. But she’s figured the shirt thing out. She always stops us before we try to put a shirt on or take one off, and will carefully take off her glasses and hand them to us. Must be like learning languages, once you’re past a certain age, there’s nothing you can do to learn to take your glasses off before putting on your turtleneck, but before that age, it takes no time to get it. That, or I’m just no good at putting on shirts. Still, I suspect it’s a life skill that will serve her well in the future.

So what unexpected benefits have you found to having your child in glasses?

Corrie, a regular commenter, sent in her daughter Ellie’s story. (Interestingly, both Amomofelly’s daughter and Corrie’s daughter are named Elliana). If you’d like to share your child’s story, please email me ann @ shinypebble . com -Ann Z

Ellie's eye turn before her surgery

So, I have been writing some comments here, now it’s time that I introduce our Elliana to you.  Ellie was born with infantile estropia (inward turning of the eyes).  At her two month check-up, the pediatrician thought that it would be a good idea to see a PO to have her evaluated.  I was a little skeptical as all babies are born crosseyed, and Ellie was still so little, but I didn’t want to miss anything (we had just discovered that I had missed a hearing loss on our two-year-old), so I decided to make an appointment.  The eye doctor checked her out and told us to come back in two months.

first eye patch at 4 months

The next time we came back, the PO told us to start patching alternate eyes two hours a day and be back in two months.  We did that, and then she started talking surgery. I was completely overwhelmed because we were going through some serious testing with her older sister for an undetected hearing loss and subsequent speech delay, so I didn’t even know where to start researching about what to do with Ellie.  I decided to get a second opinion, and made an appointment at a PO at Emory Hospital (a big university hospital).  After they had us wait for a very long time, they dialated her eyes and made us wait with the eyes dilated in a room with very bright light.  I was not very impressed, to say the least, but I came here for a second opinion, so I was going to get it.  When we were finally seen again, they told us that yes, Ellie needed surgery.  So, we scheduled surgery with our other PO.

Ellie was 9 months when they did the surgery.  I agree with all of you that have gone through it that the getting out of anesthesia part was the worst thing about it.  I was not allowed to go into the room where they put her to sleep because I was 6 months pregnant with our third daughter, but thankfully a friend was able to take her in there, and she did really well.  The PO operated for 1.5 hours on both eyes.  She came out of the anesthesia just beside herself.  Thankfully, I was still nursing her, so she was able to nurse right away and she quieted down right away and kept nursing while they took the IV out of her foot.  She screamed the entire way from the hospital to our friend’s house where I picked up her sister, to our home in rush hour traffic in Atlanta (yikes!!).  It was heartwrenching, but I had to get through it and get them home.  She pretty much needed to be held the rest of the day, but the next day she was back to her happy self… actually I think she was happier.  She could finally see things that she had never seen before.  It was AMAZING!  Up until this point, both of her eyes always pointed to her nose.  I don’t think that she ever saw anything beyond that.  She always studied her fingers.  We always teased that she was born with a diamond ring on her finger as that was all she ever looked at.   Her eyes were perfectly straight right after surgery.  The inside of her eye was red, and we had to put in eyedrops for a while, but we had no complications.

Ellie's first glasses at 9 months

When we went in for her two week checkup, the doctor was very pleased and told us to come back in a month.  Before we even went back, I noticed the left eye drifting in to her nose again.  At our next checkup, the PO noticed it too, and told us that we needed to get glasses.  So, we got glasses.  The next time we went back, we had to start patching again, 6 hours a day.  Ugh… I was frustrated.  We followed the orders until the summer came right before Ellie turned two, and because our Ellie sweats so easily and the patches wouldn’t stay on, I decided to give her a break from patching.  We got a new prescription for her lenses after the summer and started the patching again. We have been at the PO every two months for over two years now, but have not been able to improve vision in her left eye that’s still turning in.  She can actually make that left eye almost completely disappear.  It’s scary!   Finally, our PO wanted us to see the doctor that is the head doctor over the group that she is a part of for a second opinion because a second surgery is not recommended unless the weaker eye improves to at least the same level as the better eye.  So, we had a second opinion from him, which didn’t give much hope either, we only changed the prescription in her left eye slightly.  I am still waiting on the new glasses to come in.  In the meantime, I have started vision therapy with her.  Our PO didn’t think that vision therapy would help her, but in my opinion it also does not hurt her, so if what we are doing isn’t working, I might as well give it a try.  I don’t know officially that there has been improvement as we are not scheduled to go back until May (since our youngest daughter needed a follow-up appointment then), but judging from her performance as we do these “exercises” every day for two hours, I think she can see a lot better than she used to. That’s the story of our Ellie.

Ellie today in her patch and glasses

I made her a tree poster, with lots of empty branches. Every day when she takes a patch off, she attaches it to a branch: after all a tree cannot be naked. Every time she fills up a branch, she gets a special treat.

Chelsea has worn glasses since she was 2 and is currently doing vision therapy to strengthen one eye. She has graciously agreed to answer some questions about doing vision therapy. She previously did an interview with us on growing up with glasses. You can read more of her writing on her blog, Roots and Rings. – Ann Z

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Ann: You’ve written a few posts now on the vision therapy, are you still patching and doing the exercises each night?

Chelsea: I have been doing it since Feb. 11. I have only missed 2 nights. An hour each night is a lot to commit to! I’m about to go on a cruise and will be away from my computer for 7 nights. I have printed out word searches, puzzles, hidden picture games, etc. for me to do each night. Hopefully I won’t lose any ground on this trip.  [Note, she went on that cruise before this was published, I was a little slow getting this up - Ann Z]

Ann: Does your eye still feel tired after the exercises?

Chelsea: Yes and no. At the end of my exercise I am ready to go to sleep. However, it doesn’t feel strained anymore. I can definitely tell it has strengthened. (I can’t tell during the day, only when I’m doing my therapy.)

Ann: Have you noticed any changes?  Did your doctor talk about what improvement you might expect and how long it might take?

Chelsea: In my daily life, no. I first follow up isn’t until the middle of April. She was careful not to put a time table on it. Some people don’t respond to therapy. I assume she was really saying “Some people your age don’t respond to therapy.” It will work. I just know it will!

Ann: Do you think it makes it easier for you to do the therapy since you’re old enough to understand why you’re doing it, or do you think it would be easier if you were younger?

Chelsea: Yes yes. A thousand times yes. If I had to do an hour of therapy each night as a child, it would have been pure torture for my parents. I’m at an age where I appreciate the value of sight. This is all I’ve known. When I was younger, I didn’t know that I didn’t see well. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized I don’t use my right eye. Without the knowledge of my situation and the hope for what “could be”, I wouldn’t have taken therapy seriously.

Ann: Thank you so very much, Chelsea!