Well, we had a follow up for an eye issue Savannah had when she was 1 1/2, and got news that we were not expecting. It turns out she has a problem called fourth nerve palsey. The muscle that controls the vertical (up/down) eye movement has too much slack (like an elastic band), so it has trouble keeping her (left) eye focused at the same place her right eye is focused. That makes her left eye work really hard to (a) keep vertical alignment, and (b) focus on what the right eye is looking at. It causes eye strain, and is making her favor her right eye to see, since the left is always trying correct its vertical alignment. It has to be corrected, and the only option is surgery (they will make a small incision in the tissue at the top of her eye to expose that muscle and shorten it so she can control that muscle). That will happen this summer.
After hearing the word surgery she bolted to the door and tried to leave, begging to go home. But, after we got home I talked her through it, let her look at the inside of my eyelid/top of my eye, and looked in the mirror with her to show her what her eye is doing, talked about surgery, recovery, and what happens if we don't do it. I emphasized that it's always better to have a problem that we can FIX, and even though eye surgery sounds scary, it is only outpatient surgery, and recovery is easy -- one day home and then returning to normal activity except no swimming for 2 weeks. Later, she admitted her eyes get very tired at school sometimes when she is reading and said she gets headaches when that happens. After trying to be as positive as possible with her, she finally came to me and decided that she does want to do surgery to have it fixed (not like she had any choice, but that's okay, I'm glad she is feeling "good" about it).
The eye doctor (a pediatric ophthalmologist) said she is favoring her right eye now, and is in the window of time when she could develop lazy eye, so she suggested Savannah wear a patch 2 hours a day, 3 days a week. Savannah has been very excited about the patch and about "making her weak eye muscle stronger" - so she is wearing it every day after school (my overachiever) and I let her pick out some cool girlie patches online. So...not the best news, but thankful that it is a relatively minor outpatient procedure that does not involve operating on her actual EYE, and that she is being brave and positive. Proud of her.
