Today I got a better explanation for the terms far-sighted and near-sighted than I’ve ever gotten before. Let me share:
Near-sighted: Your eyes are strong only in seeing those things that are near to you.
Far-sighted: Is NOT the opposite of near sighted. Far-sighted is the term for being able to see certain distances well, but where your eyes are weak in seeing other distances. Babies are born far-sighted… they can only see what’s close to them at first, but as their eyes strengthen and develop, they can see farther distances too. Their eyes are capable of seeing far, but need strengthening. However, you can be “far-sighted” and be able to see things far away easily, but have those things close up be difficult. And she (the optometrist/opthamologist, don’t know which) also mentioned that stigmatism can affect this.
Anyway – Jordan has been home 7 1/2 months and his eyes have progressed from the far-sightedness of a 9 month old to that of an 18 month old. He made a good 4-month jump in eye development over the course of 2 months. I’m pretty happy with that and so was she. She asked us to keep an eye (haha) on his eyes as he gets more and more mobile and moves around faster. If he is trying to look at things that are too difficult for him (too far away in this case… his eyes see nearby the best) then his eyes may begin to turn in or cross. So, hopefully his eye development will continue to keep up with his gross motor development!
Heart – someday I need to follow up with a cardiologist. But he has mild aortic regurgitation that’s directly related to his bicuspid valve there. There is no stenosis and this is something I’m just going to put off until it’s convenient.
ENT – Jordan is hearing much better now that he has tubes in his ears. We’ve noticed a huge increase in responsiveness and communication since getting those in. However, we still aren’t convinced he’s hearing great. So, sometime we need to schedule a sedated ABR hearing test. Doctors say let’s do it this August. I’m still trying to decide if it’s worth the big trip in during a busy month. I plan to get it done before the end of the year at least.
Tonsils/adenoids – the jury is out. We’ll re-evaluate later. I really don’t want to do a sleep study. Just going ahead and getting them out would be just as painful as a night in a hospital, methinks… so I’m hoping we can just decide yes/no without a sleep study. This is another I’m putting off for now.
Physical Therapy – sometime I need to get Jordan evaluated for orthotics. Any experienced or educated (or both!) advice out there? Jordan’s gross motor is progressing very well without any direct therapy. His toes curl under a lot and his inner ankle is lower than it would be on somebody with better tone… I’ll try and get a picture sometime. In any case, how urgent is this?
Other therapy – We would all benefit from more therapy to help us help Jordan. Speech, occupational, feeding, fine motor, you name it. However, bonding and family is still higher priority for us than those, so during this season of higher stress, they have been put on the back burner. I had a bunch of that all set up for this summer, but between the pregnancy and moving, it just ain’t happenin’. Next year!
Educational services – What does anybody know about the state early education or disability services in Washington??? Any hope for in-home services that you know of?
