"I'm not cold!!"

My cousin is deaf in one ear because of ear infection. He swam without adequate protection after having tubes put in.

Hang in there, Mom. This will be harder on you than on Sozlet, but you know that. :-)

Thanks Swimp. Yeah, I know that.

I forget, did your kids have tonsillectomies and/or adenoidectomies? Any pointers if so?

Younger son had tubes and adenoidectomy when he was just shy of 2. He was up and running through the hospital halls the next morning. Tonsils are a bigger deal. She'll have a pretty sore throat. Sozlet appears to be a trooper. She'll be fine.

Regarding her vision, I'm as nearsighted as she is. I started wearing glasses at 10. I recently learned that people with large eyes are more prone to nearsightedness.

Yeah, Noddy said that when she saw pictures of her... she's got ginormous eyes.

20/400 too, really? The interpreter at the appt. yesterday has 20/500 vision. It seems to be less of a big deal than I originally thought -- my vision is BAD at 20/200 and I was having a hard time figuring out how bad twice as bad was, if you follow. How's it been for you?

Not bad. The seeing eye dog is a real sweety ;-)

But seriously, I don't feel any different than anyone else.

I have 20/400 and use contacts - today they're so comfortable and permeable, you hardly can notice them. Glasses made me dizzy, and I only use them at night when I read in bed.

I got a tonsillectomy when I was 9 years old, and I remember the sore throat
but tons of ice cream made up for the discomfort. I also had numerous problems prior to the tonsillectomy, and was happy to get rid of them.

It's a lot more stressful for you, sozobe. I remember when Jane had her
first anesthesia, I almost passed out from fear, but kids are so resilient,
more than we think. Hang in there! I know - easier said than done!

Hang in there, soz.

What's sozlet's correction? I have -9 and astigmatisms in both eyes.... Can't even read w/o my glasses or contacts.

Thanks so much, everyone. I'm in more need of reassurance than usual! So much to process in such a short time...

DrewDad, I'm not sure. The only numbers I have so far are 20/400 and 2.5/2.25 (one eye is worse than the other). I was supposed to get a written prescription but haven't gotten that yet so have nothing to refer to. (Hmm, reminds me to make a call.)

Silver lining -- if I get her glasses soon, she can finally sit on the couch and watch some good movies while she recovers...

Great to know that you don't find 20/400 vision to impact you much, CJane and Swimpy. The eye doc thought sozlet could start using contacts within a couple of years. (She's amazingly UNsqueamish about her eyes and is enthusiastic about the idea.)

Wow, that is a lot to process. I'm glad (but not surprised) that sozlet is so gung-ho. I'll be thinking about you guys on Monday.

Wow. I'd be totally freaked in your situation. Sounds like you've made sense of it. Monday! That's so soon.

Does the optical correction restore Sozlet's vision back to 20/20? She'll be fine as long as her only problem is shortsightedness, astigmatism, and the like. I would worry much more if the 400 vision came from a retina problem messing with her field of vision, or something like that.

Best of luck on Monday with the sozlet. (I was 19 before I got my tonsils out and don't recommend waiting. It was a much bigger deal.)

Yep. (Optical correction restores her vision to 20/20. The eye doc gave her a couple of portable lenses [her prescription] and sent her out to the lobby to take a look outside -- sozlet's reaction was, well, trippy. Lots of "wows!" involved, and gasping, and grinning, and "I can see every little thing...!")

It happened gradually enough that she seems to have thought that's just how humans see -- not very far -- and this is a bit mind-blowing for her.

Re: surgery, I've talked to a bazillion friends who have gone through this with their kids (seriously, it seems like more have than haven't), and am feeling calmer about it all. Sozlet remains sanguine. Her friends are promising to visit bearing ice cream, and generally being sweet, and she's feeling that sort of celebrity-ish thing when kids get very sick or very hurt. All without any pain... yet. (It's gonna be bad, but we knew that, and hopefully the really painful part will be relatively short.)

Bad news -- we got the date but not the time for the surgery, and just got the time -- 3 PM. This is bad news because she's not allowed to eat after midnight the day of. We'll stuff her Sunday and let her stay up late so she sleeps in and there is less time for extreme hunger to strike. (The girl's an eater.)

Sympathy from here for both of you, Soz.

I had 20/200 in left eye at nine and the right eye was never as myopic. So, glasses at nine, contacts in teens, back to glasses in my late thirties just because I got tired of contacts (they were either hard or large soft ones at that time).

T&A at seven, just remember the ice cream part. They'll probably expect her to check in some time before the surgery - so there will be some interest level to compete with hunger..

Tell the sozlet that Auntie Swimpy knows she will come through with flying colors...pink and purple to be exact. I'll be checking in to see how she did.

Pats and kind thoughts to you both.

I just thought humans saw that way when my eyes went (grade three)...then I realized other kids could still see the board from the back!!

My eyes are terrible (AND huge), and it pees me off because, since having adult measles, I can't wear contacts any more.

I have ultra high index plastic lenses...so they are very light and not very thick.

Glass at my prescription would be heavy, and normal plastic would be coke bottle.

I have my tonsils and all that, so I have nothing remotely sensible to say about that.

Hey, I remember that! After they told me I needed glasses, and it was going to take like a week to get them in, I borrowed my mom's glasses.

The trees had branches! There were blades of grass on the ground!

heh.


Hope everything goes well.

Thanks, everyone!

Yeah, I have a clear memory of crossing the skyway between the eye doctor's office and the parking garage after getting my first pair of glasses, and looking outside and being astonished that I could see individual leaves on the trees. I thought trees were just kinda amorphous green masses.

If all goes well we'll be picking up her glasses today, before surgery. Pair one anyway (kind of a long complicated story and not that interesting).

Meanwhile, we let her eat quite a lot yesterday since she wouldn't be able to eat again until after her surgery today, and apparently it was a bit too much. She was nauseous last night, but between nerves, a really big dinner, and an unexpectedly warm house (she still has her down comforter on her bed, which I eventually ditched for a lightweight blanket, and she slept fine after that), it's not that worrisome. She remained only mildly nauseous -- never barfed -- and she never had a fever or anything. And Rolaids helped. We'll mention it to the hospital anyway just to rule out any issues (she seems totally fine right now).

I probably won't be able to check in here until ~6-7 PM my time. Thanks again, all!