In Your Eyes

"In your eyes, The light the heat, Your eyes, I am complete."

Camden had his follow up eye appointment last week. He is a little near-sighted in his left eye, but the doctor didn't think it was enough to send him to a specialist. I was greaty relieved since that would have involved a trip to a pediatric opthamologist in Birmingham and possibly even glasses. She just wants to watch it and see him back in 6 months. The eye tests were very interesting. I held Camden on my lap and the doctor showed Camden two toys. The first was a rubber finger puppet and the second was a tongue depressor with green feathers on top. After she showed him both toys she hid the finger puppet and held the feather right in front of him. He would reach for it. Then while she was still holding the feather in front she would hold up the puppet high and to the side. Then he would turn to the puppet and reach for that. I could tell he wasn't seeing with his left eye as well. Then she looked in his eyes with her scope, from a distance. Next they played "peep eye," but I thought she was saying "pea pie" for awhile. She held a lens in front of her eye and would say "peep eye" and then hold it front of his eye and look with the scope again. She did that with several different lenses on both eyes. Just from those tests she could tell he was near-sighted in his left eye, but not how much, so she dilated his eyes. After Camden's eyes were dilated, she repeated those same tests and also did another one with paddles. They looked like ping pong paddles but they had different black and white patterns and some were solid gray. She would hold two out side by side and Camden would reach for one. I couldn't quite tell what the results were, but I think Camden was reaching for the smaller patterns when they were on the right, and the bigger or solid patterns when the smaller ones were on the left. I was amazed that he stayed still and cooperated for all of these tests, but it was like a game to him. So for all of you wondering how in the world you check a baby's eyesight, now you know. The doctor also said they use these same tests for other non-verbal patients, like stroke victims. She was very sweet and reassuring. She also had a son with the same birthday as Camden, only 10 years older. Weird coincidence, huh?