While sometimes no news may be good news, sometimes you really want the answer to be: "Everything looks just fine!"
Especially when the "everything" in question are your son's eyes.
Ahhh!
A few weeks back, when we took Caitlin in to get checked out for her glasses, the doc asked to have a peek at the twins' eyes, "just to see". I took Emma in and she was pronounced fit as a fiddle and cute to boot and then I took Logan in. He took longer because he was feeling squirmy and a little nervous about the bright light being shined in his eyes by this strange new person. She made hmmm-ing noises and took longer to finish checking him out.
My tension mounted.
Then she said the words that make your hair stand on end as a parent: "It may be nothing, but I'd like to see him again in 6 weeks."
Whaaa? What for? "Well...it may be nothing, but it might be the beginnings of lazy eye or in the worst case scenario, it might be eye cancer. It's extremely rare. It probably isn't but...."
Eye cancer?!
She had my full and complete attention, but the exam was over. I was bade to "not worry" and come back again. Ay yi yi! So I've spent the last 6 weeks trying not to think about it. Today we went back in for a quick re-check.
He's fine. He's perfect. He's darling and charming and his eyes are lovely.
Emma's, too.
Oh, but they might have a slight astigmatism, but that is probably just the fault of these fantastic genes they've inherited. We make 'em cute as buttons, but potentially blind as bats.
Whew!
5 comments:
we had to take hazel in to children's (anesthesia and alll ) ata the beginning of october for surgery. that shit sucks, and it is SOOOO expensove. i feel for ya.
There should be rules about throwing around words like EYE CANCER without being awfully damn sure that is what's going on. Then wait 6 weeks? Oh hell no. Gigantic kudos to you for keeping it together, becauase I would have lost my shit and hauled the child to another optometrist or opthamologist tout suite. Glad that everything is A-ok!
So glad all is well. Seriously, there should be cushions and pillows around phrases like eye cancer. Whew, indeed.
There must be a seminar that Doctors go to: "Heart stopping phrases to casually mention at the end of an exam" When Loen had her eyes checked the doctor said it could be a slightly cloudy lens (left over from her NICU eye surgery) or a cataract. After sedating her for another eye exam it turned out her eyes were fine but will need glasses when she is older. It will still upsetting to think she had something really wrong, then have to wait for an answer. I totally empathize with you.
Sara: I imagine that was pretty scary. I'm sorry you all had to go through that.
Missy: The thing is, we've had this eye doc for decades and she's AWESOME, but she wanted us to pay close attention to any changes in his irises or eye color or anything unusual. She had my complete attention, I tell ya.
Jennifer: I had my internal panic attack and then did my best to ignore the panic for the rest of the month. Mostly because he seemed perfectly fine. If he hadn't, or if I'd been able to convince myself that I was seeing SOMETHING, I'd have been a wreck.
Hava: You have been through a whole helluva lot more and I'm amazed that you're able to write about it so calmly! Thanks for the empathy. I know that you really REALLY get it.
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