Bilateral Refractive Amblyopia

We're off on a new learning journey. Ellie had a long overdue exam at the eye doctor's today, and she apparently has Bilateral Refractive Amblyopia. In layman's terms, this means that she has two lazy eyes, caused by her brain being overwhelmed by the degree of her vision loss and astigmatism and, to some extent, "giving up." Her glasses should arrive in a couple of weeks, though the best they can get right now with the glasses is 20/40 vision. The hope is that by helping the brain's load with glasses, and with the addition of eye exercises, we can eventually help her brain decide to kick in full force and get her to 20/20 with lenses.

That's the factual short of it.

An helpful article I found this afternoon gives the following information:

Amblyopia is poor vision in an eye that did not develop normal sight during early childhood. It is sometimes called "lazy eye."
When one eye develops good vision while the other does not, the eye with poorer vision is called amblyopic. Usually, only one eye is affected by amblyopia, but it is possible for both eyes to be "lazy."

Under causes, it says,
Refractive errors are eye conditions that are corrected by wearing glasses. Amblyopia occurs when one eye is out of focus because it is more nearsighted, farsighted or astigmatic than the other.
Amblyopia also can occur in both eyes if both eyes have very blurred vision. This can happen when there is a high amount of nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism.

If you'd like to learn more, just google "amblyopia" or bilateral amblyopia" and you'll find plenty of reading.

On the mental/emotional end of this news is the fighting off of a load of guilt. It's difficult to avoid focusing on the "what if's." I realize that the past is the past, and we can't go back. So we're moving forward, going to do our best help correct Ellie's vision, and going to get the rest of the Blessings in for exams asap.

It's wonderful to know that God is sovereign and all-wise, isn't it?