Specs

On Tuesday, we had our first visit with the new pediatric opthamalogist. His name is Dr. Ellis, and he's the head of the department at Children's Hospital. I'm trying to give all the details because you should write his name down, and keep it just in case you ever need an amazing doctor for your little one. He was fabulous.

Can I say that in the first 20 minutes, we learned more from the nurse about El's eyes then we have in 2 years of visits with what's-his-name? This doctor structures the visit to get as much information as possible. It's a 2 hour visit (yes, even the first one), and first, the nurse conducts a series of tests, pre-dilation. Then, El's eyes were dilated. He was so cooperative that the nurse asked if we were sure he was two! After 45 minutes, the nurse came out with some cool looking camera, and looked at El's eyes. When she was sure he was ready, they showed us into Dr. Ellis' office promptly.

Dr. Ellis was a grandfatherly looking sort, with a warm smile. He was accompanied by two interns. I was immediately impressed with the rapport and teaching I saw happening from the doctor. He examined El's eyes for about 10 minutes, and then explained to us what he saw. Elliot has 2 issues happening with his eyes- vertical and horizontal ones. Vertically, El's eyes tend to wander inward when looking at an object upclose. His eyes separate as he fixes them at an object in the distance. Secondly, his right eye is higher than the left, and when he gazes to the left, this creates double vision, and he tilts his head to compensate. He then also chooses which eye to look through. What a lot of work just to see! This is called 4th nerve palsy. The muscle in his right eye that should be tempering this floating upward isn't as strong as it should be. This could be repaired through surgery, but the combination of the issues creates a different issue.

And so, Elliot is getting glasses! as a first attempt to treat this. First we'll do single specs. After 6 weeks, we'll go to the doctor again, and see how the glasses are affecting his eyes. If they aren't working, little El will get bifocals! If that doesn't work, then we'll talk surgery.

The doctor must've thought we were off our rockers. We were laughing and carrying on. So relieved to finally know something about Elliot's eyes, have a possible course of action, and a doctor we can work with through this.

And, quite frankly, I can't wait to see El with glasses. Can he possibly get cuter? I know it will be a whole new management issue...Kevin wore glasses and had eye surgery at age 5---and his glasses frequently ended up "lost" or in the toilet. I'm wondering how Elliot will respond to these.

In any case, this is great news for us, and we're thrilled to see if we can help Elliot adjust to these issues, now that we know what they are!