I have a lazy eye. As a result, I don't have stereo-optic vision. And without that - no depth perception. I've been told that I could have surgery to correct the lazy eye, and my eyes would track correctly. But it would be too late for my brain to learn to process the images correctly, and I'd still not see 3D. This really isn't that big a deal. I can drive. I can read. I don't wear glasses. But I can't play baseball or any racquet sport to save my life. And no way in Hell can I thread a needle.

I passed this trait on to one of the Sysmidgets. We've tried to correct it with glasses (and later bifocals), but his eyes turn in even more than mine do. Finally, with the encouragement of his ophthalmologist, we had his eyes corrected this week.

I woke him up at 6:00 a.m. yesterday, and brought him to the outpatient surgical center. He was still in his pajamas. Happy. Very talkative to the staff. He had to go under anesthesia for the surgery. When he woke up, he woke up angry. Thrashing, screaming and crying. His eyes hurt. He had an I.V. (which they put in after they put him under) and he'd peed in his pants, so they'd taken them off.

It took me about 10 minutes to calm him down. I held him, rocking back and forth, for about a half hour, then they sent us home. He kept a cold washcloth on his eyes for a few hours. But by lunch time, he was fine. No bandages. No patch. And he was back at school today. We'll know if a few weeks whether he'll still need glasses (he's farsighted, too).

When I described how he was after he woke up, I said "He went to sleep with a mask on his face, and when he woke up - he had an I.V. and his pants were gone. Now, I'm used to that kind of thing, but for him, that was a first."

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 13, 2006 at 10:01 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.