No Surprises?

Today they told me ...

Do you know how many times I could title my entries this way? Too many to count.

Today they told me my baby has Down syndrome.
Today they told me she has cancer.
Today they told me he has ADHD. and ODD.
Today they told me she has hearing loss.
Today they told me she has apraxia.
Today they told me she needs a hearing aid.
Today they told me she doesn't.
Today they told me she either has a tic disorder or is having seizures.
Today they told me it's a tic disorder.
Today they told me he needs a full evaluation.


And the list actually goes on and on, but you get the picture.

You would think by now, nothing would surprise me. You see I could have told you most of those things before they were diagnosed. But not this time. Really, you'll never believe what they told me today.

Today,



they told me,



she needs glasses.

Holy makeral, I don't think they understand. I came here to have her clogged tear duct evaluated. I didn't ask for an eye exam. My child can see perfectly. She's a beginning reader. She can write. She can climb anything and everything.

Then Dr. H asked me if I had noticed any changes in her eyes.

Well, just the constant watering and eye boogers.

Oh, and her tic disorder seems to worsen when she's visually stimulated.

And she does sit pretty close to the TV.

Come to think about it, when we read together she holds the book way too close for me to read it ...

Oh yeah, we did note at her spring IEP meeting that she is on the same reading level in May that she was on in January. Hmmmm.

When I say it all together like that, it really starts to sound pretty bad.

Crap.

So here's the scoop. Miss Chelsea will be getting fancy new specs this summer. She doesn't have to wear them all the time. Wearing them all the time will not fix the problem and not wearing them will not make it worse. He had a big diagnosis for her eye problem but at the time he was rattling that off I think I was picking my chin up off the floor. He did say a lot of families decide it's easier to have the child wear them all the time instead of trying to fight them to wear them when needed, like when they're reading.

I am taking suggestions now, on how to keep glasses on an active 6 year old. I'm also wondering how in the world we're going to afford them. I can't imagine she'll be able to keep the same pair for a few years like her Dad does. So how does one afford to replace kids glasses every time they're broke and or lost? I did see a pair of indestructible glasses, but let's be honest, as Grandma says, they look like safety goggles. No really, they're cute on the little kids, but she's a bit older now and I think she needs a more mature look. Let's just hope she's mature in her handling of them ;)

As for the clogged tear duct ... that's exactly what it is. We will schedule a surgery soon and they will put a tiny tube in the tear duct to create a space. A space that is supposed to be there, but obviously isn't, hence the constant wet face. The tube will not immediately resolve the problem, but when it is removed after 6-10 weeks, she will have a space in her tear duct for her tears to drain. He did mention some kids pull them out themselves (ouch!) and if that happens, well then it happens. It sounds like a pretty low risk procedure and it will definitely help her with some hygiene issues. The wetness on her face attracts an unbelievable amount of dirt and it's almost impossible to keep clean. The tears are also one of the first things other kids notice at school. More so than the speech question, I get asked, "why does she always have tears in her eyes?" The constant moisture in that area also leaves her prone to eye infections and the breaking down of the skin, so we're really hoping she fits into the 85% of kids that have success with this procedure!