Patches

Lex went back to the eye doctor today to see if wearing glasses was improving his eyesight in his weaker eye.

The wonderful news is that yes, his eyesight did improve, quite dramatically, in fact.  Instead of being 20/200, he is now closer to 20/60!  This dramatic improvement is due to the fact that the kid wears his glasses like a professional, putting them on as soon as he wakes up, and only taking them off right before bed, to set them on his nightstand.

But 20/60 is still legally blind, and he needs an eye patch for further improvement.  The fact that he has already improved so much gave the doctor great hope that with patching he will one day have 20/20 vision (with glasses or contacts).  This is great.  If we had waited to start his treatment, he may never have been able to see that well.

I'm happy.  And Lex is actually happy, too.  He has been wearing his eye patch for more than 2 hours now, and he has only mentioned it to me once.  I simply reminded him that he needed to wear it to make his eye stronger, and he went on with his business.  So pleased am I!

He needs to wear the patch for 2 to 4 hours every day, and during that time he needs to do at least 2 hours of "close work."  The patch is most effective if worn during 2 hour increments of close focus, such as coloring, building Legos, playing puzzles or using the iPad, laptop or Nook.  Watching tv or sleeping are not helpful patch activities.  Less than 2 hours of continuous wear isn't as helpful either.

Since we live in the State of Ohio, we received a wonderful patch kit from the Save Our Sight program.  Ours is the only state in the USA where kids' patching is totally funded by private donations, and we don't have to pay a penny for patches.  We only have to pay for the doctor visits.  When you renew or replace your license plates, you have a chance to donate to this organization.  I know that I will, from now on.

Lex received awesome patches in three boy designs:  Spiderman, flames and sports.  He loved them all and loved having a choice.  We also received some books about wearing eye patches and how the eyes work, along with rewards calendars and a poster to display all of the patches after he has worn them, as a progress chart.  It sounds a bit creepy now that I've typed that all out, but I assure you that it seems quite safe.  I'll take a photo of it once we hang it up.  Lex still has to decide where he wants to hang it.

Patching: Day One has been a success.  We go back to the doctor after three months to see how much his sight has improved.  The doctor expects that we will do this for quite some time.  Until he is either 20/20 or the improvements stop.  I'm hoping the 20/20 comes first.