Joshua’s Eye Surgery

 

     My son Joshua, is scheduled to see a pediatric eye specialist on July 27.  When Joshua was around two and a half years old, we noticed that his eyes would “wonder” in occasionally, especially when taking his picture.  At first, it was slightly noticeable, but has gotten more predominate over time.  My other two children also had the same issue when they were young, but they both grew out of it, with glasses. 

     So we decided to take him to the eye doctor and have his checked out.  The result was that he is a little near-sighted, but he has a condition where is eye muscles that control the movement of his eyes is too long.  We got him so glasses, which at first was an awful experience.  If you have small children with glasses you know what I’m talking about.  We went through three pair in almost eleven months.  Broken frames, broken ear piece, and when cleaning one pair I snapped them right in half.  After the adjustment period wore off, he now wears them fine.  But we have learned when he wants to take them off, we let him.  So we don’t find them broken in the corner somewhere.

     After two years of wearing glasses, the situation hasn’t corrected itself like we had hoped.  His right eye has gotten a lot better, but the left still pulls in.  Then we started taping the inside corners of his lenses with frosted tape to try and teach his brain to pull his eyes out and away from the tape, that unfortunately didn’t work either.  Sometimes they are completely fine, with no pulling in at all and then when he doesn’t focus any longer, then they pull in, not both at the same time, the eye doctor said that was one of the good things, his eyes alternate.  She said this meant it wasn’t straining just one of his eyes.

     My husband and I, have really debated on seeing the surgeon.  But I know if it isn’t corrected now he may never grow out of it, and may cause serious eye damage later on in his life.  The doctor has tried to reassure us it is a common surgery, recovery is two days at most, he will be an outpatient.  They will put him to sleep and snip the eye muscles to make them shorter to control movement.  But as a parent, I am extremely nervous about this.  But I know it’s for the best welfare of my child, and just pray that God will keep him safe.

 

 

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