A Monday Story

Yesterday was one of those days that starts out as any other day- nothing out of the ordinary- and then proceeds to knocks you off your feet.

At seven-o-clock, the morning was off to a good start with the sun shining and the boys, who are off track, playing nicely.

At nine-thirty, we were off to Ian's well child check-up with no worries in sight.

At ten-fifteen, Ian's eye exam at the doctor's office had me a little worried. He could barely make out any of the letters on the wall with his left eye.

At noon, I scheduled another eye exam with an optometrist.

At three-thirty we were on our way to the appointment, talking about how cute Ian would look wearing glasses. The worried feeling growing in my stomach.

At four-eighteen, sitting in the exam chair, Ian looked so small as the doctor explained that his left eye was 'lazy'. Strabismus, is the technical term. The sick feeling in my stomach swelled as the doctor relayed to me that 90% of his seeing was being done by his right eye and the left eye had become so weakened because of this that it was barely seeing anything. "Use it or loose it", the doctor said. How had I not noticed this?

At four-thirty, I called Erik on the phone to tell him the news and consult with him about what this all meant. Trying to hide the feelings of guilt and sadness from him, he helped me figure out what eyeglass plan to purchase for our boy.

At five-ten, we tried on twenty pairs of glasses. The brown, Scooby-doo frames won, hands down.

At seven-thirty, we found ourselves shopping for eye patches. He will wear these as often as possible, covering up his 'good' eye so the 'weak' eye can get stronger.

At the end of the day, Erik asked if I was OK. "You've had quite a day" he said. I'm sure he could sense the worry in my voice as we had talked earlier that day, and could probably still see it on my face as I crawled into bed.

It was one of those days that leaves you feeling a little beat up.

But today is a new day, and Ian is wearing his eye patch like a trooper. He struggles to focus on anything further away than the length of his arm. I am trying to figure out how I did not notice anything and praying that now that we do know- his eye will get stronger and all will be well. Time will tell.