Jacob Gets Glasses

   Jacob has been telling me for a little bit now that he wanted to get glasses before he started Kindergarten in the fall. I knew from a preschool screening he did a year and a half ago that his left eye was not as good, so I figured it was a good time for him to get an eye exam, so I took him in June 23, knowing he'd likely need glasses.

  

   So he saw the doctor at America's Best and I was a little surprised when he told me that Jacob's left eye was so blurry that glasses wouldn't even fix his problem, he'd actually need vision therapy first. He explained to me that Jacob had amblyopia, and for him this meant that his right eye could see perfectly well and his left eye was a -6.75, which is extremely blurry. Basically when they showed him all the letters on the wall his vision was about 2200/20, meaning he couldn't even make out the biggest E at full screen. I had thought that Jacob was exaggerating when he would say he couldn't see out of that eye, I didn't realize how bad he actually couldn't see. 

   So with amblyopia, his left eye has been so blurry, probably for so long, that his brain has just stopped responding to it and he's been compensating with with right eye. That's why we never really noticed Jacob's poor eyesight before, because he never squinted or closed one eye to see better, the brain just ignored his left eye so that he wasn't using it. 

   So we took the doctor's advice to see a specialist and that very day we were in a new office and Jacob did a more thorough eye exam. This doctor agreed he would absolutely benefit from vision therapy at their office, that way they could work with him and teach his brain to use that left eye again. But she said Jacob would absolutely still need glasses, along with weekly therapy that could last for at least a year.

   So right away we let Jacob start looking at glasses, and we made him try on a few different styles, but the poor kid was so tired from doctor visits all day and he had dilation drops in his eyes for a test so his vision was blurry and he was getting drowsy. Jacob finally picked some brown frames with red that he really liked but then realized they didn't take our vision insurance so I would have to go back to the first place to check out glasses after all. After being at this second doctor for 3 hours, we were all a little exhausted and still trying to take in all this new information, it was a bit overwhelming for one day. 

   Jacob was a little sad he wasn't going to be able to get the first pair of glasses he picked out, but a few days later we went back to America's Best and picked him out a new pair that was pretty similar. Even Blake picked out some glasses to try on just for fun.

 

   After we ordered Jacob's glasses they finally came in on July 3 and Jacob was so anxious to get them and start wearing them every day. We were glad he was excited for them because it was still an adjustment for us to see our little guy in glasses! But we've gotten more used to it and he has taken great care of his glasses, and is great about putting them on first thing in the morning and wearing them all day.

   The interesting thing about this though is that even though Jacob has his glasses he still can't see better since his brain is still not used to using that left eye. So in time the vision therapy should hopefully help him get to seeing 20/20 with his glasses, but his prescription will probably always be that high. But for now his glasses look pretty cute and he's looking so grown up! Everyone has been really sweet and has told him how great he looks with his new glasses and so I'm glad that has boosted his confidence a little bit too! ;)

   Jacob also started his vision therapy on July 9th, which is every Wednesday for 45 minutes, and then we also practice for about 25 minutes 5 days a week at home. So it's a lot of work and commitment, and can sometimes be a little difficult exercises for him, but a lot of times there's fun activities too like popping bubbles, hitting balls, and playing other games, so I think things are going well. Although it's a little adjustment for all of us, we're grateful we caught this early enough on that it can be [hopefully] mostly corrected, and that Jacob has been handling everything great so far! I'm glad that for now he's still excited about doing all his appointments and homework, so I hope he keeps up the good attitude and that we'll see lots of progress soon!