Diagnosis

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Today we took our 4-year-old daughter to the ophthalmologist - a step recommended by our pediatrician, who, at Abby's annual checkup, had noticed something amiss in Abby's eyes.

We arrived at the ophthalmologist's office about 15 minutes early. They had a movie playing and lollipops available, so the appointment started off pleasantly, as far as our daughter was concerned. When they took us into the back, the first thing they did was sit her in front of the machine. The nurse (PA?) told her they were taking pictures of her eyes. Still, it seemed to be going well.

It was when we got into the exam room that the downward spiral started. With each test that required covering her right eye, it became apparent even to non-experts such as my husband and myself that something was terribly, utterly, uncontrollably wrong. When our daughter failed to see any of the 3-D images, even with both eyes uncovered and the 3-D glasses on, I started to guess how bad it might be. And when a true eyepatch was placed over her right eye, and she could not see the letter E that was 2 inches from her face, the idea of what we were up against really hit me.

The nurse put the dilating drops into Abby's eyes and sent us back into the waiting room for 45 minutes. Of course, Kip and I had nothing to talk about except what we had noticed during the exam. Thankfully, the movie was still playing and Abby was blissfully oblivious to what was going on in our minds.

Eventually, they called us back into the exam room, and this time, the ophthalmologist himself tested Abby's eyes. He told us it was a very severe case of amblyopia, or lazy eye. Her left eye simply was not doing its job, and left untreated, would lose all vision completely. He explained that we would have to undertake a very aggressive patching program with her. He tried his best to lay out for us how difficult the coming year(s) would be, but we were so shocked by this news that almost none of what he said really sunk in. I cried all the way home.