3-2-1, Contacts?!

The Boy failed his 8th grade vision screening last week.  I know.  I was there.  The nurse running the show that day told me (after I teased him enough that she knew he was my kid) that his right eye was perfect, but his left eye was not seeing anything but blurring at ten feet from the chart.  She wrote me the note that said he failed and gave the form the eye doctor had to fill out.

Yesterday we went to the eye doctor.

Sure enough,  the left eye was incredibly near sighted.  Poor kid.  He couldn't see anything bu the big "E" at the doctor's office.  The really curious thing was, however, that his right eye--having been over-compensating for the lame left one--was actually far sighted.

My clever boy had one eye that could read things in books and close up, and another eye that would see things far away.  This is highly developed Darwinism, isn't it?  Well, no, not really, I guess.  But it is pretty amazing to see what your body and mind are capable of doing.

Anyway, because of this off combination the doctor suggested contacts, as that would be the best way for The Boy to continue doing the things he loves--football, snowboarding, dirt biking--with corrected vision.  And before I knew it, the doc was putting contacts into The Boy's eyes.   He tried three different brands of contacts until he found the ones that fit the best.

As one who can't put drops in my own eyes, this was the worst part of the appointment.  But The Boy did fine overall.  Then the assistant spent 20 minutes teaching him how to put in and take out the contacts.  She even recommended that he get up 15 to 20 minutes early because putting them in before school could take a little longer than he expected.  So, up he was this morning, and got them in the second try.

Genius Golfer and I have perfect vision at this point.  So the fact that both kids now wear contacts--and have very poor eyesight without correction--is astonishing to me.  Poor kids.  If this is the law of averages, maybe they can avoid other medical issues I have had to deal with, since they are already dealing with their eyes.  That is how I like to think of it, at least.  And I just thank goodness they are both willing and able to get the help they need.