Cora Leigh's 3 year check up and eye doctor

On October 10th, we went to Highland Pediatrics for Cora's 3-year check.  This was our first time meeting Cora's new doctor, Dr. Schumate, and it went great!  Cora has a tendency to be very shy with adults, particularly with men.  When we were considering changing her care to a doctor on our side of town (same practice where Micah is established), we were hoping to find a doctor that Cora Leigh would like.  Right now, Dr. Schumate has a resident working with her - a guy.  With him, Cora began to warm up by the time he finished talking to us about everything and looking her over, but it still wasn't great.  As soon as Dr. Schumate came in the room, Cora Leigh was a little chatter box!  She did everything the doctor asked her to do without hiding her face with her hands or clinging to me.  It was great! 

Cora Leigh was 32.25 inches tall and 31 pounds.  They said that she looked very healthy - no concerns there.  The only concern I expressed to the doctor is that sometime over the past year, we had noticed Cora had a little bit of a lazy eye.  They looked at her eyes and had her do some eye exercises.  They also had her do an eye test with a Kindergartener's eye chart.  Apparently, some 3 year olds cannot do it at all, but she did great!  (She is a smart little girl.)  :)  They did notice that her vision in her right eye (the lazy eye) was worse than her left eye.  So, we got a referral to a pediatric ophthalmologist.  Another surprise at her appointment was that she had an ear infection!  As far as I know, Cora Leigh has never had an ear infection.  Apparently, this one was pretty bad, but Cora did not complain at all!  She really enjoyed her 10 days of amoxicillin.  :)

The following Wednesday, October 17th, we went in for Cora Leigh's eye appointment.  I was not looking forward to this for two reasons: 1) a male ophthalmologist and 2) she had to have her eyes dilated.  I wasn't surprised at all when she didn't want to look at the doctor.  He put a sticker on his nose, and managed to get her to look at him.  Cora did not enjoy the dilation either.  She did great with the first drop, because she didn't know what to expect.  They went through a lot of drops to get one in her second eye.  :)  After the doctor looked at her eyes, he confirmed that she did have an "eye turn."  When her right eye drifts, it causes her to have double vision, so in order to see clearly, she essentially turns off her right eye.  That is why her vision is weaker in her right eye.  However, looking at her eyes, her vision should be the same in both - both equally bad.  Poor baby is very farsighted: +5.5.  How she has managed to do so well with such poor vision, I have no idea.  We may have to reteach her the alphabet and numbers when she can see them clearly!  :)  We left the ophthalmologist that day with eye patches to patch over her left eye 2 hours each day to help strengthen her right eye and with a prescription for eyeglasses.

Trying to find glasses for a 3 year old was another challenge.  Obviously, they have to be small and they have to be very durable.  We are so thankful that we have good vision coverage, but we also had to find somewhere that accepted that coverage.  After much research and several phone calls, we ended up finding a place to try.  They did have a pretty good selection of kids' glasses.  When we first arrived, Cora refused to try on anything.  Thankfully, a nice worker found some stickers for her, and after she got her Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty stickers, she was willing to try some.  Then she didn't like anything.  Pair after pair, "those are too big" and "I don't like those!"  Then there was THE PAIR.  They are Lilly Pulitzer wire rimmed glasses that have really shiny blue flowers with some purple accents on the side pieces.  She loved them; she loved that "the blue matches my eyes!"  She wore them the entire time we were going through the ordering process.  She wanted to take them home, but we explained that they were going to make some special lenses to put in them that would help her to see better.  They said we should get them in about 2 weeks.  Until then, she'll continue to see poorly, and we'll use her patches to help strengthen her eye.

She has done wonderfully with the patches.  The first time we put one on (they're like little bandaids), she did not want to wear it.  When we got it on her, she told us that she couldn't see with that eye.  We explained that the patch was going to help that eye be stronger.  Ever since then, she's done great!  She even seems to like to wear it.  Her cousin, Hayden, came over one day when she was wearing it.  When Hayden asked what that was, Cora told her that it was a patch for her eye and that it would make her eye stronger and stronger!  She was very enthusiastic and flexed her arms and shook for a little extra emphasis.  :)  She will ask us if we think her eye is stronger yet.  It's very cute.

While we hate that she is having to struggle with her vision and with the lazy eye, we are still so thankful to have such a happy, healthy child.  We go back to the eye doctor in 6 weeks for an assessment to see how the patches and glasses have helped (but no dilation, thankfully).  Hopefully things will have improved.  Otherwise, we may be looking at surgery in the future.  I cannot wait to see my precious little girl in her glasses and see her face when she can actually SEE things!  Rest assured, we'll take plenty of pictures.  :)
For now, I'll leave you with a picture of Cora in her patch, working on our pumpkin.