I don't think I've shared with you the latest news from our eye doctor. Kate and I had appointments a little over a month ago. Dr Miller wanted to check her lazy eye and see if anything was improving. Unfortunately it hasn't improved. It's actually getting a bit worse.
*sigh*
*sigh*
Bummer.
Since the glasses are helping but they aren't improving anything the next step would be bifocals but can you imagine trying to teach a 5yr old how to use bifocals?! Yeah me neither. The Dr said it's very difficult and probably not helpful in the long run since she's still so young.
The next option (before something drastic like surgery) is eye patch therapy. Basically forcing her bad eye to work. The Dr suggested putting scotch tape over the lens of her good eye making her bad eye have to focus. If that doesn't work (meaning she cheats and looks around the lens) then use a "pirate" patch. If that doesn't work then use an eye bandage and tape the thing to her face. She needs to do this therapy for 3 hours a day, 3 days a week for 3 months.
He told me that it was going to be difficult to force her to use her bad eye but that I had to be tough and make her. Little did he know that getting her to do things like wear a patch or a bandage that she doesn't want to wear was going to be way more than tough!
I put it off and put it off because we had company, then vacation, then company....finally I realized that there really wasn't going to be a great time to start this. I just needed to suck it up and do it. That and the fact that I was already now a month behind...Grrr!
So last week I sat her down and told her what we needed to do. My awesome, wonderful friend Kim and her daughter, Ashley, heard about what I had to do and they went to the store and bought some pirate patches and some bling and bedazzled the hooey out of a couple of patches in hopes that Kate would totally dig them and want to wear them. Kim also suggested starting with the patch (which would most likely be uncomfortable) and if she hated it do the scotch tape thingy. Hopefully showing her that it could be more comfortable. Genius.
She resisted - a lot - at first. I explained to her that we needed to make that eye work right by golly (I joked with her about it). I told her that if we could get her eye to do what it's supposed to then maybe she wouldn't have to wear glasses. Then I told her that if she did this for the 3 months then we'd have a celebration at the end and we could invite her friend Madi over for a sleepover. She stopped arguing for a second and asked if we could bake cookies with Madi. I said we'd do that and more! Can you say desperate?
Then my sweet, wonderful son, Kale, came out wearing an extra eye patch and pretending to be a pirate. He was somehow able to get Kate excited to be a pirate and that girl wound up wearing her patch for the rest of the night. Way to go Kale!
So we have to do the pirate thing 3 or 4 times a week (since we're behind). She does pretty well....if I put it on the correct eye....After I took this picture I realized the patch was covering her bad eye. Mother of the year. Right here!
Now I need to set an alarm on my phone to help remind me to make her put it on. I get so forgetful!
Since the glasses are helping but they aren't improving anything the next step would be bifocals but can you imagine trying to teach a 5yr old how to use bifocals?! Yeah me neither. The Dr said it's very difficult and probably not helpful in the long run since she's still so young.
The next option (before something drastic like surgery) is eye patch therapy. Basically forcing her bad eye to work. The Dr suggested putting scotch tape over the lens of her good eye making her bad eye have to focus. If that doesn't work (meaning she cheats and looks around the lens) then use a "pirate" patch. If that doesn't work then use an eye bandage and tape the thing to her face. She needs to do this therapy for 3 hours a day, 3 days a week for 3 months.
He told me that it was going to be difficult to force her to use her bad eye but that I had to be tough and make her. Little did he know that getting her to do things like wear a patch or a bandage that she doesn't want to wear was going to be way more than tough!
I put it off and put it off because we had company, then vacation, then company....finally I realized that there really wasn't going to be a great time to start this. I just needed to suck it up and do it. That and the fact that I was already now a month behind...Grrr!
So last week I sat her down and told her what we needed to do. My awesome, wonderful friend Kim and her daughter, Ashley, heard about what I had to do and they went to the store and bought some pirate patches and some bling and bedazzled the hooey out of a couple of patches in hopes that Kate would totally dig them and want to wear them. Kim also suggested starting with the patch (which would most likely be uncomfortable) and if she hated it do the scotch tape thingy. Hopefully showing her that it could be more comfortable. Genius.
She resisted - a lot - at first. I explained to her that we needed to make that eye work right by golly (I joked with her about it). I told her that if we could get her eye to do what it's supposed to then maybe she wouldn't have to wear glasses. Then I told her that if she did this for the 3 months then we'd have a celebration at the end and we could invite her friend Madi over for a sleepover. She stopped arguing for a second and asked if we could bake cookies with Madi. I said we'd do that and more! Can you say desperate?
Then my sweet, wonderful son, Kale, came out wearing an extra eye patch and pretending to be a pirate. He was somehow able to get Kate excited to be a pirate and that girl wound up wearing her patch for the rest of the night. Way to go Kale!
So we have to do the pirate thing 3 or 4 times a week (since we're behind). She does pretty well....if I put it on the correct eye....After I took this picture I realized the patch was covering her bad eye. Mother of the year. Right here!
Now I need to set an alarm on my phone to help remind me to make her put it on. I get so forgetful!
