Yesterday, we had our third appointment with Miles's ophthalmologist in Louisville. This was the follow up after his nystagmus diagnosis and MRI. The object was to check his vision and see how the eye problem is affecting his vision.
First of all, I would just like to say right here and now that eye appointments for toddlers are miserable. I don't know if it gets better or worse from here, but I hope it's better, since we'll be seeing a lot of them in the future. The first part with the actual doctor was okay, though I had to hold his head to keep him from turning it when the doctor was trying to see its movement...you can imagine how well that went. Then came the eye drops. Ohhhh the eye drops. They have you sit in this crowded little sub-waiting room with all the other kids getting drops and their families. Not a happy room. Kids (including mine) SCREAMING when they have their drops put in. I had to lay Miles down on my lap and hold his hands down while they put four drops in his eyes while he was screaming. Awwwwwwwful.
After that, Miles and I went into another room where they were going to do some kind of vision test where he had to have one eye covered. Well the same girl who put the drops in was going to put a piece of tape on his eye and Miles was DONE with her. So his chart had a big "Would Not Cooperate" on that page. I can't say that I blame him, though.
After more time in the sub-waiting room (I think a good name for it would be Purgatory), we went back in to see the doctor for more light games. This time he had to shine lights in Miles's eyes and with big dilated pupils, he wasn't a fan. The doctor got kicked once (but it wasn't a mean "I'm gonna kick you in the shins" kick, just a frantic wiggling kick.
The doctor talked to us afterward and told us that Miles has exotropia (NOT nystagmus), which is a form of strabismus (misaligned eyes) in which the eyes move outward. His is intermittent and only in his right eye. Dr. D said he only saw it when Miles looks up. That's generally true, but he looks down then up quite a bit. He prescribed patching of the "good eye" (his left eye) for 2-3 hours per week and we will see him again in about 6 months to hopefully check his vision better. Since he didn't cooperate, they can only assume that it is okay. I have to agree with that assumption, at least for nearsighted vision. He has no trouble identifying letters in this game on my iPod with teeny tiny letters.
Now we have to figure out what kind of patches to use for him. The doctor gave us a sticky patch to try, but I would prefer something reusable (the sticky ones are about $7.50 for 20 patches) and less Band-Aid-like. Since he doesn't wear glasses, the only option is a pirate-style patch. I'm not sure that would go over well. There are some pretty cute sticky patches out there. Maybe I'll stumble onto a really good deal.
Here he is in the sample sticky patch today. So far it's been on for about 30 minutes!
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