In February we had a professional development day at school. Usually these days consist of me sitting in meetings that have absolutely nothing to do with my job but I am required to go! This time I was more than looking forward to our speaker, it was Dr. Pierce from the Vision Enhancement Clinic in Springfield. He was so interesting to listen to. Did you know that 40% of school age children have vision difficulties!?!? Vision problems aren't just acuity of course but I was surprised that it was that high. Anyway, during a break I asked him a bit about Addy. Her pediatric ophthalmologist told me last March that Addy has Mild Hyperopia and there was no need to see her back. He also said that this was common in children with DS (duh, I already knew that but whatever). I told him that I was concerned about her crossing her eyes still and having trouble with tracking and when she was working on stacking she would overshoot her target. He said "It's common in kids with DS she's fine". I knew right then and there that I wouldn't be taking her back to him but he's the only pediatric eye doctor in Springfield (I hear there is now another one but who knows). Anyway, after meeting Dr. Pierce in Feb. I knew I wanted him to take a peek at Addy, I knew that something was not right!! We had our visit with him today and I am SOOO glad that I listened to my gut! Dr. Pierce did a functional vision exam (not just an acuity exam, very important!) and after about twenty minutes of doing all sorts of different things with her and looking in her eyes he sat back and said "Cammie, your daughter is severely farsighted. I'm not just saying severe, she has SEVERE farsightedness." Yes!!! I knew something was not right! He did say that even though Addy is three we are catching it pretty early and hopefully by the time she is a teenager she may not even need glasses anymore! So my sweet little one is going to be getting some glasses! This is going to fun!! I asked about getting frames from Specs 4 U and he agreed, no problem! We did try on some frames in the office to find the right size etc, it was hilarious, Addy wanted no part of it! She did finally realize that we were going to be putting these things on her face and she just had to play along! We first put on the plastic looking frames and I didn't like them at all, they looked way too big and bulky. We did find one pair that fit pretty well and they were adorable! We found a comparable pair on the Specs website so the eyeglass girl is going to be trying to get those! I am so anxious for Addy to really be able to see all of these things that we are constantly showing her! She can see some up close but he said that it is definitely blurry or double, I can't remember what he said now! So hopefully in another week or two my daughter will be able to see! That is after the repeated re-application of them on her face!
Jake is very pleased with his camo cast that was put on today. Addy keeps trying to pull it off! We went to the orthotist doc today and they recommended placing her in Sure Steps now, no more AFOs! Addy even picked out her pattern, she was so funny, flipping through the book and she kept going back to the page with ladybugs and grasshoppers on it. I asked her which ones she wanted and she kept going back to that page, she finally handed it to me and said "Bah" which I'm pretty sure meant "Bugs" :) Of course, Addy says "bah" for everything but she's trying!
