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Staring you straight in the face
By Moryt Milo
A trip to the pediatrician last month taught me a valuable lesson. Don't become complacent with your child's health. Don't think that once the inoculation schedule is completed you can sit back and forget about those annual visits to the doctor. Even if your children have outgrown ear infections or get very few colds, you might be surprised at what hidden changes are happening in their bodies.
My son and daughter fall completely into the status quo when it comes to childhood ailments. Physicals have always been routine. That is until our last visit, which turned into an unexpected wake-up call.
In my daughter's case that wake-up call occurred while reading the eye chart. It had been three years since her last physical--my daughter is turning 13 years old and, if it hadn't been for a camp requirement, I would have pushed it out longer.
As she covered her left eye, she froze on the third line. When the nurse asked, "Can you read that?" She replied, "No, the letters look really blurry." I was shocked. Those letters were huge! Not once had she complained about any difficulty seeing. I was definitely feeling guilty. But the nurse assured me that it was quite common for one eye to compensate for the other. Translation: It's hard to spot the problem, unless a child complains or is tested.
As we sat in the examination room waiting for the doctor, I asked, "You really couldn't read those letters?" Followed by, "How is that possible without you noticing any problems at school?" All she could say was, "I don't know."
I found her reply to be surprising. She is a young lady sensitive to every nuance around her. So, not being able to read the third line of an eye chart should have triggered a red flag somewhere. Of course, looking back, there were definite indicators. The problem was we didn't recognize them, which is why it's so important not to neglect the obvious.
As parents, I suspect problems with vision and hearing are commonly overlooked in our children, if they aren't extreme but come on gradually. Stories abound of a child being labeled as lazy, unmotivated, or worse yet, lacking the smarts. Later these same children are tested for hearing or vision and their struggle is uncovered.
So, I would like to offer one big telltale sign. If your child plays a sport and his or her skills start to take a downward slide, get him or her checked out. In Sarah's case, she is a competitive bowler with a passion for the sport. Suddenly her scores started to drop. Her skills looked forced, and her confidence went so far south that she didn't want anything to do with the sport and stopped playing.
One of her coaches was astounded and determined her "head game" had gotten the best of her. Another explained that she picked up some bad habits that were throwing the rest of her game into a spiral. I was convinced she just needed a break from all the competition and tournaments. Nowhere in this litany of theories did anyone think it was physical.
So, she stopped bowling and admonished herself for losing her edge. Nothing I said could console her sense of "I stink." Now we had a bigger problem, lack of self-confidence and it seeped on to the baseball field, where batting became a nightmare, as she continually found herself striking out.
I was watching an athletically confident child lose her belief system. All the motherly pep talks in the world were worthless because the next day the problems would repeat themselves. It took four months before that doctor visit turned on the light. Only as we waited for the doctor did it hit me, and I turned to my daughter and said, " Sarah, I bet this is why you had trouble bowling and batting. You couldn't see. We have got to see what happens once you get glasses." Her smile said it all.
Yesterday, after four months, we went to the bowling center. I asked her to first stand on the foul line without her glasses, because that's how it's always been. Then I asked her to put on her new set of eyes. To which she said, " Oh, my God, I can see!" She couldn't pick that ball up fast enough.
Moryt Milo is a frequent contributor to the Campbell Reporter.
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Campbell, California
