If you're in a hurry...today went better than yesterday. Thank you, God! Braska's take on things, complete with pics, will be up later today when she gets up from her nap and is ready to tell her story.
For you detail addicts... We got up, fed, dressed, and headed out for the 40 min drive to Children's. On the way, I debated, sometimes outloud with myself, whether or not to call again to tell them I was coming. I weighed the element of surprise with catching a possible open appointment slot if I talked to them first thing. I decided to call for an appointment, so I did, and waited on hold for just long enough to change my mind. Then I called back, bypassed the appointment option, and got a hold of Debbie, the same girl I talked to twice yesterday. I told her I hadn't gotten a call back, and that I really needed Braska to be seen today, so I was already on my way. I told her I would see whoever was free if Dr. S wasn't available. She said calmly that Dr. S had some open spots, so we could get in soon. YAY!
We got there, checked in, sat down in the totally empty waiting room. I've never seen that waiting room empty. Dr. S had a new doc or resident working with him, so he did his thing first with Dr. S watching and such. Braska tolerated things pretty well sitting on my lap while they fumbled with her. They were trying to see if they could catch her left eye crossing like it has been with the glasses on, but since they're broken, they don't sit right and she kept grabbing at them. But in the end, the decision was that her esotropia (turning inward) is not actually worse, that what we're seeing is more a symptom of her nystagmus (wiggly eyes) when she tries to focus or strain. The bottom line...she doesn't need a new prescription at this time, we just have to watch her to see that this issue remains intermittent, not becoming constant. I thanked him for getting her in, to which he responded that it was good that we came in since it was helpful to be able to see what was happening instead of trying to disuss and describe it. Just wish I'd have done it yesterday morning, but ah well...doesn't matter at this point.
We then moved on to the next eye center. (Why two? Children's is a medical eye center and they treat and operate, etc, including prescribing glasses, but they don't have an optical center to actually get the glasses. So we go to St. John's Eye Center, which is NOT a medical eye center, just an optical center....yeah, confusing. Only like 7 places in the country specialize in infant eyewear, and this is one of them.) Going from one to the other used to be super simple, straight down the highway about 8 miles or so. But no more...Hwy 40/64 is now closed for the year, so it takes some more scenic routes to get there. That's ok though, I get to gaze at the multi-million dollar homes of Ladue as I cut through.
The people at St. John's have been great from the beginning. In less than three months, we've been there 9 times from the initial order to pick-up and fitting to umpteen adjustments, going every time we're in town. Last time, we had Terry work with us, and he was great. Luckily, this time he got us again, and was again so helpful and nice. He found a spare temple piece of the same pink color that he could finagle to get to work so that we have something to hold us over until we get the new pieces in to replace these. They should be in Thurs or Fri this week. And after talking to M about it, we decided to order a back-up pair so that we wouldn't be so frazzled and hurried about everything for the next time she breaks them...and I'm sure there WILL be a next time. The best part is that all this is covered by the warranty, except the back-up pair, of course, so no money needed to repair the break! VERY good!
So we were all done by about noon today, and it was pretty painless. I'm choosing to accept that things were just supposed to happen today and not yesterday, for whatever reason. Who knows what accident we avoided or long wait we'd have endured or rude person we'd have encountered... I just can't control everything, and I have to learn to accept that I'm not the one with the best plans.
Now we wait...it looks like my jaunt to Columbia will have to wait, as I've got work to catch up on and my friend is pretty busy, so Braska and I will just be hanging out for a couple days until Thursday afternoon when we head back to Children's for the GI appointment and to St. John's again for the glasses. Then we'll head home either Thursday or Friday. *sigh* It seems like so far away!
For you detail addicts... We got up, fed, dressed, and headed out for the 40 min drive to Children's. On the way, I debated, sometimes outloud with myself, whether or not to call again to tell them I was coming. I weighed the element of surprise with catching a possible open appointment slot if I talked to them first thing. I decided to call for an appointment, so I did, and waited on hold for just long enough to change my mind. Then I called back, bypassed the appointment option, and got a hold of Debbie, the same girl I talked to twice yesterday. I told her I hadn't gotten a call back, and that I really needed Braska to be seen today, so I was already on my way. I told her I would see whoever was free if Dr. S wasn't available. She said calmly that Dr. S had some open spots, so we could get in soon. YAY!
We got there, checked in, sat down in the totally empty waiting room. I've never seen that waiting room empty. Dr. S had a new doc or resident working with him, so he did his thing first with Dr. S watching and such. Braska tolerated things pretty well sitting on my lap while they fumbled with her. They were trying to see if they could catch her left eye crossing like it has been with the glasses on, but since they're broken, they don't sit right and she kept grabbing at them. But in the end, the decision was that her esotropia (turning inward) is not actually worse, that what we're seeing is more a symptom of her nystagmus (wiggly eyes) when she tries to focus or strain. The bottom line...she doesn't need a new prescription at this time, we just have to watch her to see that this issue remains intermittent, not becoming constant. I thanked him for getting her in, to which he responded that it was good that we came in since it was helpful to be able to see what was happening instead of trying to disuss and describe it. Just wish I'd have done it yesterday morning, but ah well...doesn't matter at this point.
We then moved on to the next eye center. (Why two? Children's is a medical eye center and they treat and operate, etc, including prescribing glasses, but they don't have an optical center to actually get the glasses. So we go to St. John's Eye Center, which is NOT a medical eye center, just an optical center....yeah, confusing. Only like 7 places in the country specialize in infant eyewear, and this is one of them.) Going from one to the other used to be super simple, straight down the highway about 8 miles or so. But no more...Hwy 40/64 is now closed for the year, so it takes some more scenic routes to get there. That's ok though, I get to gaze at the multi-million dollar homes of Ladue as I cut through.
The people at St. John's have been great from the beginning. In less than three months, we've been there 9 times from the initial order to pick-up and fitting to umpteen adjustments, going every time we're in town. Last time, we had Terry work with us, and he was great. Luckily, this time he got us again, and was again so helpful and nice. He found a spare temple piece of the same pink color that he could finagle to get to work so that we have something to hold us over until we get the new pieces in to replace these. They should be in Thurs or Fri this week. And after talking to M about it, we decided to order a back-up pair so that we wouldn't be so frazzled and hurried about everything for the next time she breaks them...and I'm sure there WILL be a next time. The best part is that all this is covered by the warranty, except the back-up pair, of course, so no money needed to repair the break! VERY good!
So we were all done by about noon today, and it was pretty painless. I'm choosing to accept that things were just supposed to happen today and not yesterday, for whatever reason. Who knows what accident we avoided or long wait we'd have endured or rude person we'd have encountered... I just can't control everything, and I have to learn to accept that I'm not the one with the best plans.
Now we wait...it looks like my jaunt to Columbia will have to wait, as I've got work to catch up on and my friend is pretty busy, so Braska and I will just be hanging out for a couple days until Thursday afternoon when we head back to Children's for the GI appointment and to St. John's again for the glasses. Then we'll head home either Thursday or Friday. *sigh* It seems like so far away!
so glad it was a better day and hope you can get some good r&r while you wait for your upcoming appts.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that things went better for you and new glasses are on their way. I think you are smart to have ordered a back up pair.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with all of your upcoming stuff - I hope you get to have some rest and fun in between :)
Jessie--We're resting...kind of. :o)
ReplyDeleteMelissa--Why didn't I think of a back-up pair before? I think we're going to be skipping fun and hoping for boring good health. Ha!