First - apologize for the complete silence around here. With my family in town for a couple of weeks and the Holidays approaching there was/is a lot going on. So slowly but surely I will catch up. Things may not come in a coherent order, but that is part of my life right now and I kind of like it - even if you guys don't!
Anyway, over a year ago we took Enoch to the eye doctor in the States because his left eye was rolling around and it was freaking us out. They told us he would grow out of it. Lots of outdoor time practicing on focusing on things close and far away. A year later, he is still doing it and now it is something he can do upon request. So I took him to the local equivalent to Lenscrafters here - SpecSavers. The nice lady there somehow didn't see his eye in action, although I was watching him do it at the same time she was supposedly NOT seeing him do it. But she said that she would refer me to the Opthalmologist at the hospital if I wanted for further tests. I responded - please do. A month later, yesterday, Enoch and I headed into Harrogate District Hospital for some eye tests.
I gotta say, they were fabulous. They had all of these great tests for kids Enoch's age and had him diagnosed in a few minutes. They ran more tests and continually confirmed the diagnosis. He has a birth defect, called Duane's syndrome. It is where the nerves in your eyes are miswired. Enoch's left eye is perfectly normal, but his right eye doesn't move much at all. So when he tracks things with his left eye, his right eye stays staring straight ahead. I was so concerned about the red herring of his left eye, I never noticed the right eye's lack of movement. Anyway, his vision is completely unaffected, in fact, he has better vision than most kids his age. The only thing is that in order to see things out of the periphery of his right eye, he has to turn his head. It isn't something you can correct, and actually there is no real need to correct it. The optometrist said that it will be his party trick for life, and you know, he had a lot of fun showing her his trick. So, score one for socialized medicine!
4 comments:
I'm glad they figured it out so quickly and that it is nothing to be concerned about. I'll be looking forward to seeing his party trick someday!
I wonder if that is kind-of what Isaac has- maybe it is the High side with the really cool "defect!"
Wow, isn't it nice to have a good experience with doctors - those are so few and far between. I'm soooo happy to hear it's not too serious and that now you have an answer you can stop wondering and worrying. I love that guy and he already looks so much older than last summer. And having a party trick is the BEST!
I didn't know that Isaac had anything with his eyes. The optometrist kept asking if anyone else in the family had it, so maybe it is hereditary. I'll blame it on Grandma and Grandpa C being first cousins...
Post a Comment