Four-Eyes

After Ruthie's last eye surgery in December ( http://simplysullivan.blogspot.com/2008/12/good-old-vanderbilt.html )we had a follow-up appointment in March. At that point the doctor told us that Ruthie was still having some wandering with her eyes, but it was only about 10 degrees off from normal, which is not enough to have to do surgery again. We scheduled a follow-up for 6 months later. This past month I noticed Ruthie's eyes getting all funky again, so I scheduled another appointment. Turns out her eyes were deviating at about a 14-16 degree angle, but only when she was looking at things up close. Her distance eye alignment was perfect. Because she had no distance vision issues that ruled her out for surgery. They checked her for glasses and found that she needed glasses for looking at things up close. Apparently she cant see very well when trying to focus up close, so her eyes end up crossing. This was actually the third time they had checked her for glasses and the first time they came back with the diagnosis that she needed them. The past two times the outcome has been surgery.

Here comes the horrible parent confession. I prayed that she would need another surgery. That outpatient eye surgery is done in one day, it doesnt hurt her and we have it down to an art after going through it 2 times. A morning of outpatient surgery with anesthesia seems a million times easier to me than attempting to keep glasses on my toddler. AND keep glasses on my toddler when her twin sister gets a look at them. Surgery is sounding like a better option by the minute. Unfortunately, she didnt qualify for the surgery this time. (I just re-read that previous sentence and it sounds horrible, but I seriously cant get my girls to keep hair bows in their hair and I have to get Ruthie to keep glasses on her face?)



My afternoon was pretty much shot after finding out she needed glasses. We headed to the downtown office of Vanderbilt to get her fitted. I pull up to the free valet (I LOVE VANDERBILT) and picked up Ruthie only to see that she had gone pee all over herself and the carseat. She might as well have dumped a 2 liter of a beverage all over her. So, in the middle of downtown Nashville, and Vanderbilt, my child is standing in nothing but her diaper. Classy. I had sent my normal diaper bag with Maddie which meant I had no spare outfit for Ruthie. The only thing I had in my car was a t-shirt that they got from graduating swim class the day before. It was a child's small. I refused to walk into this eye center with a child only in a diaper, so I put the shirt on her, which looked like a dress but the short sleeves were long on her. She looked completely ridiculous. I knew that was the beginning of it about to get worse.


For future reference, a toddler is a horrible model to try multiple glasses framed on. I was quickly able to test the durability of each frame as Ruthie ripped them off her face and flung them across the room. Do you see why surgery was seeming better and better to me? No longer was a "cute" pair of glasses my priority, but instead which pair can survive in the slimy little hands of Ruthie. That brought me to the "EasyTwist" frames. Basically you can twist them, or in our case rip them off your face, and they go back to their original shape. SOLD!


We ordered them before we left for NY since they take 7-10 days to make. Ruthie needed bifocals which added a little more time to our order. I picked them up on Monday and began OPERATION KEEP GLASSES ON RUTHIE'S FACE.

We only worked with her for about 2 hours last night with them, and she did surprisingly well. I was told that once they realize they can see better with the glasses they dont rip them off.

I think the longest we made it last night was about 30 minutes solid. I am sure I will be chasing her around all day putting them back in their place.

They survived her playing with Maddie last night which is a feat in and of itself. The adventure begins!