Saturday, January 7, 2012

See No Evil, Hear No Evil...

Lily had her 6th year well-child visit to the doctor yesterday. All was fine and dandy. (90/50 bp, 47.6 lbs, about 4 ft or so tall--yes, that is a whole foot shorter than I am, so she's almost as big as me.) All was fine until we had to do the eye exam. Her left eye was having some serious issues focusing. Her left eye was about 20/40, while her right eye was at 20/25. I wouldn't even be slightly alarmed if it weren't for the fact that last year both eyes were at 20/20 and also that astigmatism is hereditary. (I have it and so does my father--I have his eyes, and so does she.) We had this problem before, during one of her eye tests, where the light was a bight askew bouncing off of her retina, so they had to do the test twice every year. It seems to have worsen over time, which is the problem I had (and ended up getting glasses for.) I have set an appointment with the optometrist on Wednesday. Hopefully they can either confirm or deny my fears.

Shortly following her eye exam the doctor checked the rest of her. Her reflexes, and the rest of her body are ok. Her pigeon-toes are caused by tightness of the internal rotator muscles of the legs, located at the hips. We have to continue our stretches and increase the intensity a bit at a time, doing it about ten times a day. Lily hates it, but we've done it for the past two years. It's prevented her legs from getting any worse, so I know we were doing something right. The doctor said to just keep doing what we were doing and that, as soon as the external muscles were tightened and in the internal were loosened, she would have no problems with her legs at all.

As for her ears...she failed the hearing test miserably. There were 5 sounds that she needed to hear. She heard the first, and loudest one, but all others were lost to her. Her ears are fine in the sense that waves are passing through the canal normally, but she's not hearing the softer, and most times lower, tones of the exam. She didn't have a problem with this last year either, but if she truly does have a hearing problem, it would explain why she feels the need to yell upon starting a conversation. Her appointment with the audiologist is on Friday.

Other than that, no other problems. She's healthy, smart, and a large pain in my ass, which is what every 6 year old should be. I'll keep you posted when she has her next appointments and what those doctors tell me.