Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Contact hell

We have officially arrived in contact hell.  Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars.  Just grab a flashlight and search.  Search the hall, search the crib and do not go on a walk in the stroller because who knows where it could fall out.  Do not put your child in the nursery at church because you will never find the contact amongst the toys.  You must stay in one room ALL THE TIME in order to locate the contact when it falls out.  This my friends, is contact hell.

Julia got a new contact several weeks ago.  I was really happy because she had been close to 7 weeks without patching/contact because of a lost contact and surgery.  This new contact was falling out daily.  So we switched to glasses for a bit, but she HATES them.  (By the way - getting the glasses was a saga in and of itself.  Her frames had to be shipped to Minneapolis to have the lenses made and then they sent only the lenses back and not the frames.  Lots of drama.)  She really can't see out of the glasses and I imagine wearing a patch and not being able to see would be pretty horrible.  Well, she usually can't see much when she is patched anyway, but it is much worse in her glasses than in her contact.  The eye doc warned us that unilateral aphakic kids don't do well with glasses because it is like looking through a magnifying glass and it turns into "barrel vision." 

So we called our doc to have a different contact made.  It finally arrived and we picked it up yesterday.  Yesterday afternoon it fell out 3 times before I called it quits for the night and didn't put it back in.  Today it has fallen out 3 times - once while she was doing occupational therapy with Nina.  Poor Nina felt so bad, even though it was not her fault.  Thankfully we found it.  Just now, while writing this blog - it popped out again.  I found it on the carpet.

I have decided to try to change my attitude about the contact.  We are going to lose some.  It is inevitable and I need to accept that.  I can't live my life holed up in the house, afraid to go anywhere because I don't want to lose a contact.  We are going to enjoy our summer, go for walks, play outside and even go swimming.

Don't get me wrong - I am still nervous.  I still obsessively check her eye to see if the contact is in.  I worry that any time without her contact is time lost.  And we can't afford to lose time right now when we are possibly looking at another surgery this summer.

But we still will have fun:

Pretending to be gangsters.


And playing with trains:

Trying to crawl.

Eating:

Trying to eat!


He just plays too hard.

Just chillin with brother.


Our next pics will be from out and about because I am determined to have a fun summer.
I'm just praying that this next contact fits better and will stay in.  I feel like I am developing an ulcer over this contact!  So if anyone wants to join me, there is room for friends in contact hell!

5 comments:

  1. I know where you are. I have been there. It makes every day unbearable. It sucks the joy right out of the day. Constantly checking. Wondering where they might lose it. Trying to remember where they have been. Where you have been. Because it might have gotten on you and transferred to something else. I am no longer dealing with a contact. I still have phantom pain. It was such a part of life. I panic when it is not in his eye. He doesn't even own one anymore. I am sorry... I have no way to make it better. Seriously though you have the right idea. Get out of the house. It is hard for others to believe, but that STUPID tiny contact makes your house a prison. I am praying for you and sweet Julia.

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  2. Oh how I feel your pain... I wish I could sprinkle some contact fairy dust on you through the computer! I'm sorry it just sucks and it's totally not fair even when you try to have a positive attitude. All I can say is that it will get easier, think of contact hell as contact boot camp and eventually with training the flames just won't feel so hot.

    Love the pics!!! Julia is such a cutie pie, especially in her "gangsta pic" And Jed just cracks me up in every post. They are too much... don't you worry, you WILL have an awesome summer!

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  3. So sorry about the contact BS. Have faith it will pass. We used to check the contact pretty much every half hour when Nicole was Julia's age. Then as she grew the lens fit better and God I hope I am not jinxing myself now but contact checks happen maybe twice a day...and we haven't lost one in months. You will look back at these days and laugh. Trust me. The pics are so sweet.

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  4. P.S. I would also like to say that I love the falling asleep eating pictures. Too precious!

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  5. It does get better... and at times gets worse. We are just coming out of a nightmare of a contact hell. (I lost one in 2 hours!!!!) Keep on trucking, it will all be worth it in the end!
    Love all the cute pics. They make great gangstas!

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