Tuesday was field day for my daughters’ kindy class (their class won 2 1st, 2 2nd and 3 3rds, btw), so Sam and I went to watch and cheer them on. We were on our way out when one of the custodians stopped me to ask about Sam’s glasses. That’s not so odd, although I did laugh when he asked if Sam had been a preemie. Yes, I know that being a preemie can cause a need for glasses (although I think that is happening less as the technology advances). The girls were preemies, and weighed about 2.5lbs each. Sam, on the other hand, I was begging to evict my uterus at 39.5 weeks and he weighed a whopping 10lbs, 10oz when he was born. Hence, the laughter.
Anyway, the guy keeps asking me questions, although he never actually asked why Sam wears glasses, and eventually asked me who his eye doctor is. I told him, and he promptly got all concerned and urged me to get a second opinion and not to worry about offending Dr. E, but to just get a second opinion. His reason was that his brother had been a patient of Dr. E when he was a kid and claimed that Dr. E misdiagnosed him and now the brother is going to be blind by the time he is 40. He claimed there was some surgery that could have been done that Dr. E didn’t recommend.
Now, I have sympathy with the guy and his brother. He never told me what his brother’s diagnosis was, so I have no idea if he is just a bitter family member blaming something on the doctor instead of the fates that landed him with an eye problem, or if the doctor really might have made a mistake or if some advance has been made in treatments that weren’t available when his brother was a child or what. For what it’s worth, our optical store sang the praises of Dr. E, so who knows.
But the guy just would not let us go. I was trying to inch my way down the hallway and just kept talking and talking all the while going on and on about the fact that his brother was going to be blind because of Dr. E.
I appreciate the concern in my child’s eye health, but this guy really needs to work on his approach, because he didn’t come across as concerned family member looking out for other people, but rather as bitter and vindictive. Even so, I have an appointment with my ophthalmologist in a few weeks and I’ll ask him to look at Sam, too. It can’t hurt, after all.
For Little Eyes 
Huh. There’s a common surgery for strabismus, maybe that’s what he’s talking about? I have a co-worker whose son had strabismus, and he had surgery at age 3, which apparently (according to her) was too late, and it never corrected his crossed eyes and his eyes still don’t work together (he’s in his early 20s now). Although in that case, it’s not a matter of going blind, just not ever having depth perception. And it’s unclear to me whether the surgery really helps with vision at all, but that’s a topic for another post some time.
Like you say, can’t hurt to ask the ophthalmologist, but I’d trust your instincts and the recommendations of others in the field when it comes to Dr. E.
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