The Eyes Have It

I finally took Leo to his long overdue eye exam yesterday. You may recall he had surgery nearly three years ago for intermittent strabismus which in English means, “lazy eye.” This is apparently quite common in children with Down syndrome and it’s also easily correctable. Leo’s wasn’t terrible, but it was definitely noticeable and if gone untreated it would have gotten worse and started to affect his vision.

When we first started to notice the strabismus (or as we affectionately called it, “freaky eye,”) around age three, I had fears of patches or glasses which is a road that many friends “in the club” have gone down. As much as I didn’t jump at the chance to put my kid into surgery (on his eyes, no less, just the thought gives me chills) I admit being relieved by our no-nonsense doctor’s approach. A patch won’t work for Leo, he declared. He needed surgery. I was still nervous. Again, we’re talking about eyes here. I remember talking to my pediatrician about it and when I told him who our doctor was, I learned that he was pretty much the doctor for kids with Down syndrome and eye problems in our area. He sees 1,500 patients with Down syndrome alone (in addition to his “regular” population).

Back to the appointment. Leo’s eyes couldn’t look any better, said the doctor. His vision is quite good—20/30. His eyes are perfectly straight. The surgery took. We don’t have to go back for nearly two years.

He also shows no signs of cataracts which are apparently common with Down syndrome (this I did not know).

All in all, Leo did well with the exam. He was definitely afraid of the exam chair with the intimidating surrounding equipment. He did just fine though, once I sat in the chair and he took his place on my lap. And he was enthralled by all the cool gadgets they use to look at little semi-cooperative eyes (wands with spinning lights and literal bells and whistles-one was even Woody--be still Leo’s heart). I told the doctor that Leo could read and that he could certainly attempt to do the exam with the letters (you know, those classic “Es” they use in vision tests). He seemed surprised but agreed. He ended up using pictures (a house, a horse, a cup, all of which got progressively smaller) instead, but it was still Leo’s first official exam in which he was asked to identify something and he correctly did so.

Probably no shock to report that he hated getting the drops to dilate his eyes. Does anyone like those?

It’s such a relief to get those annual specialists’ appointments out of the way for another year. It feels like a huge accomplishment (partly because the wait in that office seems to be nearly a half a day although we sped through pretty quickly this time). Next up, the ENT. That one’s not going to be pretty. Leo hates that doctor. There are always tears and the need for plenty of strong arming and reinforcements. It can take three people to hold down a ticked off Leo as the otolaryngologist checks out the ears and sinuses.

And I can’t even drink.