2 CONTACTS ARE BETTER THAN ONE

For about a month I have wondered about Tez's vision noticing him sitting closer to the television and doing a fair amount of squinting. Although when I would ask him if he could see he would always say yes. Tez's school had to start some new testing to reevaluate his IEP and placement for next year but discovered he needed to see an eye doctor first because he failed his vision screening. They would not resume testing until his vision problem had been seen by a doctor. Last Monday after the stressful Zoo field trip with Elijah and half of the area public schools, I took Tez to the eye doctor. I asked if he would be able to wear contacts and she said yes. I knew he was absolutely against wearing glasses and I said I would be willing to work with him to see if he would be responsible enough to wear and take care of contacts. Martez totally disagreed with me saying sternly, "Well if he needs glasses then he will just HAVE to wear them!" At his age short of screwing the glasses directly into his skull you can't "make" him wear glasses if you aren't around and Tez isn't exactly careful when playing sports. I totally disagree with this philosophy and since I have been in Tez's shoes at a much much younger age I understand the situation. I had glasses (very thick) when I went into third grade and wore glasses until my parents allowed me to try contacts at the age of 13. They bought me one pair which at the time were $375.00 for gas permeable lenses and if I lost them I would not get another pair unless I paid. I treated those babies like they were gold!!! I have since been able to switch to soft contacts which nowadays are so cheap - yeah - especially if you wear them longer than the recommended 2 weeks like I do! LOL I didn't feel Martez had any sympathy for Tez and I didn't feel like he really understood the emotional crap that comes along with a 14 yr old boy getting glasses. I am not saying glasses are bad in any way, shape or form but I also now how it feels as a kid AND I know better than him that kids will take their glasses off from time to time when not in the presence of parents. I also believe that contacts will be a better fit for Tez's lifestyle. He is VERY active and I am positive glasses would get broken or lost in no time at all. Seriously once Tez is out of my car and into the school building I have no doubt the glasses will be off of his face!! There is no visible difference when wearing contacts so if he will wear them willingly and can handle the responsibility then why not let him try. SOOOOOO we got him a trial pair of contacts and trust me the first 3 or 4 days of putting them in were a chore. He would get so frustrated and I would tell him "I am willing to help you learn how to put in your contacts but you have to stay calm and not give up until you learn or I won't buy them for you and you will just have to adjust to wearing glasses!" The mere idea of wearing glasses would make him readjust his attitude and he did better than I thought he would. The first day he came home all excited saying, "wow I could read the chalkboard from my chair!" It was also funny when he asked how long he would have to wear them and I said anytime you want to actually see the world around you. I think he thought he wear contacts for a couple of weeks and then his vision would miraculously be restored. Well it has now been a week and today I get a call from him all stressed out at school because a contact fell out. I told him it was no big deal just to put it in the case. He said he lost it and again I said don't stress out you have to go back to the eye doctor today for a recheck so she will just give you another one. Of course, his father freaked out more than myself saying see he just needs to wear glasses. I told him he should have a more positive light on the situation. I thought Tez would've lost many contacts by now but I think he has done extremely well considering he hasn't had any problems once they are actually in his eye which Martez could admittingly NEVER do!! Fast forward to later today......we get to the eye doctor and knowing the contacts have to be on for awhile before they check the eyes I tell them he lost his left contact so he would need a new one. He then informs me that he took out the right one after he had lost the left one and didn't bring it with him. I tell them nevermind he will just need a new pair to put on while he waits for me to be examined. So he sits and waits while I get checked then when it was his turn I was sitting in the chair watching him totally butcher the eye chart. I was sitting there thinking to myself why in the world can't he read this with his contacts in his eyes. I think the assistant thought the same since she made him reread the chart about 5 times and he really read it with confidence like it was correct! Worried the doctor took him in to have a look and she came out laughing! She said he took the right contact out at school however he never actually lost the left contact so when he put the new pair in at the office he then had one right contact and two left contacts in his eyes. Just goes to show more is not always better because it really screwed with his vision! I then was trying to get him to pick out a pair of glasses to wear when he wouldn't be wearing contacts.....wow that was a feat!!! I was getting really annoyed at his attitude and had to explain MANY times even though we would be buying him contacts he would still need a pair of glasses to wear at night after he takes out his contacts so HE CAN SEE!! Two and a half hours later......we decided on some glasses for both of us and I was so ready to be home it wasn't even funny!!!