Thursday, July 14, 2011

Argh! What a pretty pink eye patch you have, matey.

So my daughter was diagnosed as farsighted with amblyopia and strabismus. WTF does that mean? She can’t see things up close and has a wonky (lazy) eye. The cure for the former: glasses. The cure for the latter two: an eye patch—argh!


The glasses people find adorable. Who doesn’t love a toddler with a lollypop head and glasses strapped on? The eye patch, however, is a different story. We get everything from, “My god, what happened to her eye?” to people talking to her like she will always come in last place in the Special Olympics. Seriously, people? It’s an eye patch, not a wooden leg. She even has a pretty pink felt eye patch that fits over her glasses and makes her look even more adorable.

When we found out what she had, I felt really lucky. We found it early and it is extremely curable. We weren’t dealing with chemo and a wheelchair. All we had to deal with was a tiny pink eye patch. For now, people’s rude comments only bother me. What I worry more about is when she is a bit older and they bother her. I really don’t want to have to punch someone in the neck in the toilet paper aisle in Target, but if they make my baby cry or feel uncomfortable, I won't hesitate.

8 comments:

  1. I was born with amblyopia and strabismus in both eyes. My eyes were in-turned and 5 surgeries later (it only took one to fix my right eye) my left eye is much better than it was, but still wanders when I get tired. I wore an eye patch when I was young and it helped so much, but the kids in school did tease me a lot.

    Now that I'm in my twenties, my vision in my left eye isn't perfect (it's more of a focus thing) but my right eye is perfect.

    So yes, both are very treatable, so good luck! I know how you feel!

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  2. Thanks, Mrs. M. Comments from people who have had it have helped a lot.

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  3. Bless her heart! Please show her a picture of my boys and tell her they would think she was a ROCK STAR! Seriously. My best friend's son had to wear one for a little over a year and my older two boys spent the entire time begging to wear one too because they thought Ben was sooooo cool. People can be so rude. I'm sorry you're having to deal with that. Why do some idiots feel the need to let inconsiderate bs come flying out their mouths?? Ugggh.

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  4. I found your blog through New Mom on the Blog. My little guy wears glasses too...started at 10 months. He's now almost 20 months. He has coloboma (which we believe is separate from his need for glasses) in his eyes. Anyways, just thought I'd hop on and comment since I think all little ones in glasses are adorable :)

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  5. Thanks, Dawn. I think they are cute too. Just a bit of a hassle sometimes. :)

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  6. My 3 year old has a hemangioma (strawberry birthmark) on his eyelid which has caused amblyopia and astigmatism in the underlying eye. We just got glasses this week but he's been patched for an hour everyday for over 2 years while we're waiting for the birthmark to completely disappear. I was hoping he'd like the over-the-glasses patch better than the band-aid-like one, but nope, he hates them both :)

    Sometimes I'll just flat out tell the Nosy Nellies in Target that if this is the worst thing ever to happen to my kid in his whole entire life that I am really lucky. Often that makes them think long enough to make our escape.

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  7. "...last place at the Special Olympics" made me laugh out loud. You're a great writer! I saw a few of your comments at Rants From MommyLand and since I too love beer and babies, I had to come see for myself!

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I love hearing from you. It reinforces that writing this blog is not just a silly waste of my brain matter. If you leave a douche canoe comment, I will delete it. I am powerful like that.

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