Dekker had an appointment to have his eyes checked today. Usually we bring the whole crew, but he opted to wake the entire house this morning before 7:00, which meant that his two younger siblings would be in fairly desperate need of a nap right at his appointment time, around 1:00pm. So for the first time ever, Brady and Dekker just went together, and I stayed back while Laela and Rowan napped. I had a nice quiet rest time, where I lay in bed, watched YouTube, and ate chocolate, while Brady struggled a bit.
I got text updates along the way, and got the impression that the first chunk of the appointment hadn’t gone especially well. That part is the bulk of the actual testing, where Dekker is supposed to answer lots of questions, play games, look through different lenses and glasses, and whatever else they try, in order to get as much information as possible about how much/little/close/far/clearly he can see. He’s usually a bit twitchy in there to begin with, but the orthoptists have always been very understanding. One even said to me once “We don’t expect full cooperation. We’re putting them in a dark room and interrogating them. They don’t like it anymore than we would.” True fact!
Because Dekker hadn’t cooperated, he had to get eye drops put in to dilate his eyes. I think I explain it every time, but in case someone doesn’t know, they do this so that his doctor can look deeper inside and behind his eyes, to get at least a little bit more information. Basically, the drops rarely need to happen if the kid cooperates. I can’t wait until Dekker figures out that connection, but for now, it just has to happen this way.
I was thrilled to find out that Dekker had done remarkably better with Dr. Rubab in the second chunk of his appointment! I’m so glad he likes her and feels comfortable with her. He still isn’t fond of the tests, but she does almost all of the same exercises as the orthoptists and he cooperates much better with her.
When Brady got home with Dekker, I got more details about what happened, and I’m really really glad I did.
Apparently the orthoptist was one we had never had before, and she was brand new and in training. I have ZERO issue with people in training, and I’m not trying to rag on her for being new. I know people have to learn, and I respect that, but I am under the impression that she was clearly frustrated with Dekker and wasn’t hiding her annoyance well at all. In the past, they’ll encourage Dekker to play games that are the kids equivalent to reading the letters across the room, but its with shapes. Dekker usually plays it for a bit but tires of it sooner than they’d ideally want. Apparently this person just harped away on him, and would not just switch games! When she finally did, she tried exercises that I remember only ever doing as an older child, as in well into elementary school. Once all was said and done in orthoptics, it had been almost an hour. So while I wish Dekker had cooperated better, I also understand why he was frustrated with it all.
Dr. Rubab won, though. She remembers Dekker, and they have a good thing going. She played the shapes game with him, shone lights into his light-sensitive eyes, and made conversation with him. Right off the hop, she had even asked him if he still liked cars. He replied that he sort of liked cars still, like he liked Paw Patrol better, and based off of that question alone, Dr. Rubab was able to converse with him that much better! Knowing a kids interests is huge, and I really appreciate her taking the time to learn about him.
As for his results, she says his eyes have in fact improved! Lots of people with eyes like his (and mine) are given the hope to grow out of their prescription altogether. I was also, but never did, and thats fine. I’m not too worried about him either. However, that improvement is what we’re working towards. She said he’s not quite as improved as she was hoping he would be, but that he is still improving. If we were currently hoping to replace his glasses, his prescription would maybe be a half point higher, but that there is no need to get new lenses for such a small change. He has 20/50 vision. I have no idea what mine is, but based on our prescriptions, mine is definitely higher than his and I can see pretty perfectly without my glasses, so I have zero worries about his vision 🙂
While it doesn’t seem like it was the smoothest appointment ever, I’m happy with the general results. Very glad we got him in and seen, and that Dr. Rubab is so great with him. He’ll go in again right before SCHOOL STARTS!!! Feeling very “twilight zoney” about that…