Kaleb's Eye

No one knew Kaleb had an eye problem until the school tried to get him to cover his left eye and read letters with the right. Why this was never done at his physicals I don't know. I assumed it had been. But it must not have been or they would have found this as soon as he arrived here from Haiti. When the school discovered it, we took him to our eye Dr. The problem was serious enough that he was referred to a specialist who is only in town one day every month. 

Kaleb has very little vision in his right eye. He has been patching his left eye for two years (at least. I can't really remember when this all started). But before we knew about his eyes, his left eye was just doing all the work, but he could see okay.

I took him for his appointment on Monday. At that time the Dr. said something she's not mentioned before that is going to change things for Kaleb. "No contact sports. No sports with a ball. Stick with running and swimming for him." 

First team sport spring 2010

Fall 2012

That kind of threw me because she's never said that before. Maybe she doesn't realize that organized sports start before you are even out of pullups now.

I was getting ready to sign him up for winter basketball. He's played two years with a year off between.

winter 2010/2011

2012/2013

I asked about protective goggles. She said no. The goggles could still get hit and it would still impact his eye. She said if he is hit in or near the eye, it is so fragile that he'd probably lose all sight in the eye. Wow.

He enjoys being on a team, but thankfully he's not a gifted athlete. He tries--when he's focused--but he's not the one out front scoring points. 

He is a runner, of course, but he won't be on a team until at least sixth grade. I think we are going to look into gymnastics. We are going to try to protect the eye, but he could just as easily get hit in the  eye in PE or on playground. He could walk into a door or get hit by something random. He could get a foot or elbow in the face at the pool. So we are not going to go overboard about it. 

Still, it does change things. But we will make it work. We always do.