Friday, May 1, 2009

"You Need to Get Him Some Glasses...."

Last week I took Weston in to get a school/scout camp physical. I'll be honest....unless my kids are sick or the school requires immunizations, I don't take them to the doctor. I have failed to bring them in each year for their "Well-Visits". Why give up the copay and take them out of school? Or spend a perfectly good summer day with your healthy child sitting in a waiting room of sick ones. Anyway, so it's now been 6.5 years since Weston has had his eyes, ears and blood pressure checked and the school sort of threatened to suspend him if I didn't get him a physical.

We made a nice day of it...I picked him up just before lunch, we enjoyed a sandwich at Subway and then headed over to the UK Clinic...for his appointment. Now, the clinic attracts lots of interesting folks and as I was sitting there watching Weston get weighed, I was sure the nurse thought I was one of the good moms. Just two weeks earlier I had been there with Jett (for the very same reason) and he had passed the vision and hearing tests with flying colors. But as Weston began to read those little letters posted on the wall, it became very clear he could hardly see them. He only started to get them right once she had him read the line with just three big letters on it. At first I thought he misunderstood which line she had asked him to read....or that he had gotten nervous... but when he finished reading the "three-letter line" she looked at me from across the room and very slowly and articulately mouthed the words, "You - Need - To - Get - Him - Some - Glasses ! "

Seriously, who doesn't notice their 11.5 year old CAN'T SEE?! When did this happen? Why hadn't he said anything to us? Had his teachers noticed? Did he always have headaches? I felt so bad! According to their "test" at the clinic, Weston's vision was 20/50. I didn't waste any time...THE VERY next day I took him to get some glasses and we waited in the store until the lenses were ready to go in his new frames. Because of our insurance, we were only allowed to pick from a certain section of the store for his frames. Believe me when I tell you, this was not the section with the neat looking, cool type of frames. However, we did find some that Weston liked and looked very good on him and it was bittersweet to watch him "rediscover "things with his new glasses. Honestly, I still feel bad when I think about how long he went with his vision so bad. Oh, and just a side note, when the Optometrist checked Weston's vision, he was 20/30 and 20/40, not 20/50 as the clinic said. The nurse lady had him standing too far away from the letters....

Here is sweet Weston with his new "eyes"!

2 comments:

Melinda said...

I am totally the same way about doctor visits! I think well checks are a scam for doctors to collect money. Glad you caught his eyesight! He looks cute in his new glasses!

Anonymous said...

He looks adorable! So handsome. Hey, don't feel bad, one time Kevin kept telling me he had a belly ache and I told him to go back to bed with some Pepto, and the next day we had him in the ER with an almost exploded appendix. So, crap happens to all of us moms. By the way, Happy Mother's Day to a wonderful mom and daughter. I love you all.