...we were FINALLY able to exit the eye doctor appointment, with plenty of money spent, and Mikayla's vision even worse than where it was to begin with (due to her eyes being dilated).
Long story short, Mikayla is quite farsighted. Her prescription will end up being +3.00, whereas Brayden's current prescription is -6.00. Apparently, Mikayla's vision is such an issue, that she actually struggles with seeing distances as well, as her brain is constantly playing a "vision focus" game, trying to keep things in focus after they first appear blurry.
Of course, as a Mom, what I heard was, "Good grief, how could you let your daughter suffer this long? I'm surprised she can even read, much less manage to get through any day without constant headaches and weariness. Let's just hope that she can ever get to complete 20/20 vision since you've waited so long, you're lucky she's not blind".
No, that's not what the "very nice doctor" said, but somehow, that's how I interpret it.
Actually, the whole thing makes a ton of sense. Miraculously, both Brayden and Mikayla were able to catch on to reading with relative ease despite the fact that they were both handicapped by their individual vision issues. However, it has perplexed me that despite Mikayla being in the highest reading group in her grade, her scores for reading proficiency aren't exactly overwhelming. Reading quickly with this kind of vision issue would be especially burdensome (and at this point, I am super glad I helped her out by reading aloud the last several chapters of "Bridge to Terabithia" last weekend when she found herself behind on a reading project....the font was so tiny in that book). It also makes sense as to why she'll like the story line of a book and seem to want to read it, but lose interest when actually sitting down with the book.
And, contrary to my little "mom-dialogue" above, she will easily be able to achieve 20/20 vision with correction. The hopes that her muscles will stop overworking on the focus once she's given the correction are high - otherwise the much dreaded "vision therapy" was suggested. (This is a much debated issue among many of my mom-friends). In addition, after being disgusted with the hard-sell of this office's "glasses specialist", I tentatively dove into the contacts idea with the doctor, and she was all for it. I think we'll end up picking up new glasses for both kids this week (at a different location) as they now both need a "back-up pair" (Brayden's "contacts default" are the original glasses he picked out in first grade!), but otherwise, it's a family of four of us, all with different contact prescriptions.
Lest I begin feeling sorry for myself (and lamenting the way this and so many other things are eating away our tax refund), I have to praise God for the fact that both kids have very healthy eyes. My grandma ended her life blind, having had a degenerative condition from the time she was a child. By the time I walked down the aisle in my wedding, she was barely able to see my outline - much less gaze her eyes upon any of her grandchildren. Knowing that this condition existed in the family, it is with huge relief that it has not been passed on to any of her descendants.
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