We had noticed in the past couple of weeks that one or both eyes, at times, were starting to turn inwards so that was something we wanted to bring up at this appointment. Not the same sun-downing that we had seen in his eyes prior to his shunt placement surgery, but something that definitely seemed out of the ordinary.
Dr. Markowitz performed the same tests he did last time, including dilating his eyes. He has found that since November, his astigmatism has gotten worse and is now starting to effect his eyesight (and might also explain the eye weirdness we were seeing). The best way to correct this is for Jax to start wearing glasses. He said that it's better to get on top of this now and try to correct it as soon as possible. Sometimes, children will only have to wear them for just a few years to get everything corrected. But, with our family histories on his side, I'm thinking he'll probably wear them for the rest of his life.
We went out and tried on some glasses...oh my goodness, what a cutie! I would've taken a couple of pics but I wasn't thinking. No biggie though, soon enough you will all see them. Unfortunately, OcuSight doesn't take our vision insurance so we couldn't order them today. We stopped by Empire Vision, but for some reason Jax isn't showing up on Jason's insurance. So, after all that gets corrected we can order some glasses for the kiddo. OcuSight did give us the script, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get over to Empire Vision to pick some out. The woman who was helping us out at OcuSight gave us a bunch of tips/hints/suggestions of things to look for in glasses when working with Empire Vision. And as always, Jax did a great job and everyone loved him. He goes back to see Dr. Markowitz in two months for another follow-up.
I have no idea how we are going to get him to not take these glasses off once he gets them. I know that they are going to "hook" behind his ears, but his first instinct is to remove them (naturally). He did really enjoy looking at himself in the mirror though when trying them on in the store, so maybe we will just have to sit him in front of a mirror all day or something, lol. :)
I didn't think to ask Dr. Markowitz if the astigmatism is related to his Spina Bifida/Hydrocephalus or to his awesome family genes. I'm not sure about the rest of my family, but I know I have an astigmatism. I just had to switch contact brands to correct for mine (yikes! expensive!). I did see online though that gaze and movement problems (like astigmatism) are found in 25-33% of children with hydrocephalus. So, it's probably a little bit of both.
I'll post pics of the new specs as soon as he gets them. In the meantime, peace out.
Post a Comment