eyes

I finally got Owen in to see an eye doctor. It has been a few years since we were in and I knew it was long overdue. Luckily we found a great place through recommendations since our old doctor is no longer practicing in MN. We got to the appointment and Owen wanted nothing to do with the place. And then a nurse had to come out dressed in scrubs, eek! We, meaning I, had a bit of a struggle getting him off the floor and back into a room. He just kept screaming no, I don't want it, kicking and flailing his arms. Guess he thought he was in for another blood draw. Poor fella.
We got him back to a room away from all the onlookers and he finally settled down. Got his eyes dilated and we hung out for a bit while that took affect. When the doc came in it was like a totally different kid. He sat so patiently. Looked where he asked him to look. Sat still. I was amazed at how well he did.
The good news was that farsightedness has improved since we were in last and the astigmatism that he had got better as well. No glasses! Yippee.
However, a common thing with children with down syndrome is they have small tear ducts (similar to the problem with the ear canals and nasal passages). The problem is the little tears can't drain and they get clogged very easily. Owen has had this problem but we hoped as he got older they would get bigger. No dice. The doctor does recommend we get it taken care of since he is now at an age that they will no longer improve. And they say the earlier we do it the better.
Ugh. It sure would be nice to go to a doctor and not have to worry about some type of surgery for the little guy. Not sure when we will get it done. He said just keep an eye on him for a while and start keeping track of how much the teary-ness occurs. How often he is waking up with crusty eyes etc.

The adventure for next week will be a visit to the ENT to review his sleep study results and another hearing test. Wish us luck, I have a feeling we will need it!