"Love follows knowledge."
"Beauty above all beauty!"
– St. Catherine of Siena

Monday, August 5, 2013

Matthew Monday: Matthew Gets Eye Glasses

Many of you may remember that Matthew was born with strabismus, or in laymen’s terms, severely cross eyed.  He underwent two operations to correct it, and it’s been remarkably successful.  We do have regular eye visits with the pediatric eye specialist, a wonderful doctor who has a way with children. 
 
We had a recent visit a couple of weeks ago, and I should have guessed by the silliness that went on in the waiting room that something was going to happen that day.  Of the four children waiting, three of them were named Matthew.  Every time one of them was called, either by a parent or the receptionist, all three would respond. 

 “Matthew?”

“What?” came from three voices.

My Matthew didn’t understand why other boys were also named Matthew.  I don’t think we had ever encountered another Matthew before.  And this didn’t just happen while we waited initially for almost an hour.  After the doctor initially examined him, he put drops in Matthew’s eyes to dilate them.  And we had to go back in the waiting room for another half hour and another round of three voices responding “what?” every five minutes.  It felt like I was in a Marx Brothers movie.

Now here’s what the doctor diagnosed.  Matthew’s vision is actually quite good.  Perfect in his right eye and only 20/40 in his left.  However, the doctor feels that Matthew is not actually using his left when he sees.  The brain is favoring his right eye.  The left was the much worse of his eyes and required the second operation.  So in order to make the brain want to use the left, he will have to wear glasses where the two eyes are of equal strength.  If that still doesn’t work, Matthew may have to go back to patching the good eye for a period of time.  He’ll assess that in three months.

In the meantime, my wife picked out a pretty snazzy frames.  Matthew seems to have taken to them well.  After all his father wears glasses all the time, and we did all we could to make this a positive experience for him.  Here are a couple of pictures of him with his new glasses.
 

And here's a close up.



 

12 comments:

  1. He looks quite handsome in his glasses! Though I think there is nothing that could diminish his good looks :) Hope it works out without having to go back to the patch.

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  2. That second picture is one for the books.

    It's hard to decide if Matthew looks sad or serious and contemplative!

    The new glasses look very nice on him. Hopefully all news will continue to be positive.



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    1. Actually neither Sue. Just before I took the picture he was making funny faces for the camera and I was trying to stop him. I snapped the picture in between facial distortions...lol. Oh little boys. :)

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  3. He looks really nice in glasses. I finally got mine in 5th grade only after we played a travel game and I was always the last to read the billboards. I thought everyone saw the way I did. I hope this works well for him, these days glasses are so stylish that some kids get fake ones just to look good!

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  4. Oh, Matthew looks super cute in those glasses, little professor if I may say!
    The pictures are really wonderful and you are a good photographer, Manny.

    Thanks for sharing. :) 

    Sheherbano

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  5. Oh Manny...what a treasure. Matthew is darling and what a great personality. I so enjoyed all of the readings. Kids do say the darndest things and little Matthew is one of those children. Thank you for sharing the stories and pics.
    betz (Betsy)

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    1. Why thank you Betz. I'm glad you stopped by.

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  6. (((However, the doctor feels that Matthew is not actually using his left when he sees.)))

    I kind of feel your pain! One of our five daughters had a similar problem with one of her eyes when she was young but back then they simply called it, a lazy eye.

    Keep up the good work

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    1. Thank you Victor. So sorry to hear about the lazy eye of one of your daughters. I hope it turned out well. Five daughters! Ah daughters all love their daddys. You must have been blessed. :)

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  7. Thank you Manny and trust me when I say that I love each and every "ONE" of our five girls even though on occasions, I've been accused of wanting a boy instead.

    I hear ya! The waiting was worth it cause now you've got grand sons. :)

    Peace

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