Like Father Like Daughter

When we were in the States a year ago we took a trip to Dr. Hobbs in Warrensburg to get our eyes checked. Kirstie was three then and this was her first exam. We discovered that she was far sighted, +3 and +4. Dr. Hobbs told us there is a chance her eyes would improve and since she wasn't needing to focus on things such as school work, it would be best to wait and watch what happened.

It has been about a year since then and in the month of August Kirstie started blinking her eyes a lot. Over a two week period this became worse and worse and we decided we should try to find an eye doctor here and get her checked out again. It was quite a month for Kirstie as she had to do a lot of growing up in a short amount of time. We had just gotten back from a week of camp in Taichung, she had surgery to remove a bead from her ear, and started going to Chinese preschool.

Going to the eye doctor was a scary proposition for her, especially after all her ear doctor experiences. The first doctor we tried seemed unwilling to work with her fear. He prescribed some eye drops for allergies. When she heard him talking about the drops she started protesting. His response was to threaten and scare her more by saying, "Would you rather have an injection in your eye?" In the end he told us to come back in two months when she would cooperate more. We left the office very frustrated.

Then one of our neighbors gave us the name of another eye doctor they had taken their daughter to. We worked really hard to prepare Kirstie for the next visit in two weeks. I made a cardboard machine similar to the one she was afraid of at the eye doctor's office. We made charts and practiced reading them while holding a spoon over her eye. And we found a short video on the internet that explained the eye exam from a child's perspective. The next doctor still wasn't what we were hoping for, but all the coaching had prepared Kirstie enough to get most of the exam done. She was still very scared but tried hard to be brave. The hardest part was putting drops in her eyes for dilation. They had to do it three times and each time we had to hold Kirstie down and pull her eyelids open while she cried. We were at the office for 4 hours, most of the time just waiting. It was a lot to ask of a four year old.

After the exam we went to a tiny room in the office to pick out glasses. Every pair that Kirstie liked we were told were too small or too big for her. She was soon tired of trying on glasses and we ended up settling on a pair that the assistant said was the right size but which looked way too big. When the glasses came in we decided they weren't going to work. They totally overwhelmed her sweet and petite face. God had to do some work in me as I struggled worrying about how glasses would change her lifestyle, effect her self-image, and effect her socially, making her even more different than her Asian peers.

We did some more research and found six eye glasses shops near our night market that Allen and I browsed through while Kirstie was at school. Katelin was with us and she enjoyed trying on everything we thought might work. The attendants at these shops were so much more helpful and they said they could order the right size in many of the pairs we were considering. We had thought that little room at the eye doctor office was all we had to choose from. We took Kirstie with us on another day to try a few certain pairs on. The shop assistant that helped us buy a pair ended up expressing interest in going to church! I'm so glad we got this figured out. This whole eye doctor and glasses thing was a cultural adjustment and learning experience that we hadn't had to deal with yet. We were not familiar with the way it works in Taiwan.

We are so much happier with this new pair of glasses and Kirstie has been adjusting very well. This is her first week with them. She is not as steady on her feet when she wears the glasses but I think it is normal to have an adjustment period. Her first time out with the glasses I saw her sliding them up and down, seeing what things looked like with and without them. A little later she told Allen, "You can see really easily on these glasses!"

The second eye doctor wanted us to come back in month to check her progress. Since one eye is much worse than the other there is a possibility that she will need to wear a patch. A friend from church has done some research for us, trying to find a good eye doctor who will work well with Kirstie and her eyes. We're still not sure what the next step will be in this process but are enjoying our month long break from doctor visits!