Start Praying Now

This morning Joe and I took Ella to the eye doctor. When we were in Cincinnati in July the ophthalmologist said that Ella is far-sighted, but at that point she wasn’t showing any signs that it was causing problems, so he decided to leave it alone and re-evaluate her next year when we go. Unfortunately, since then we have noticed that her right eye is crossing. Since both Joe and I wear glasses, we decided to have this checked out sooner rather than later. This morning we headed to the eye doctor here in Virginia. I knew it wasn’t going to be a good visit…doctor visits rarely are with Ella. So I started praying last night that she would stay calm and let the doctors do what they needed to do. In July, thanks to all the prayers that you sent up for us, Ella was a rock star during her eye exam. She did exactly what the doctor wanted her to do, which was why we got such a good evaluation of her vision. Today…that was not the case.

This was the first time any of us had ever been to this doctor or office building, yet as soon as we pulled up Ella knew that we were at the doctor and she started crying. She kept asking to go back to mommy and daddy’s blue car. We made it up to the office and got her settled down by reading books and coloring, but as soon as we went into the exam room all hell broke loose…and that’s an understatement. She screamed the whole time. They tried to get her to look at toys and she wouldn’t cooperate at all. They turned on the TV and she still cried. They gave her a lollypop…nothing.

After I talked with the doctor and Joe occupied Ella, we were supposed to go into another room where a nurse could put drops in Ella’s eyes to dilate her pupils. If things were bad in the exam room, they got even worse here. Arms flailing…screaming…3 adults trying to hold her down…Ella kept crying out, “Ella all done! Ella go in mommy and daddy’s blue car!” The straw that broke the camels back was when she was trying to avoid the eye drops and she rubbed all the skin off of her chin. At that point we decided that this wasn’t going to work today and we needed to head home. They called the doctor back in and we talked to him. He was very understanding and is willing to squeeze Ella in for another appointment next week.

Joe and I felt like we had gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. We were emotionally beat up and physically exhausted. We both wanted to crawl into bed and cry. I was embarrassed, scared, sad and frustrated all at the same time. Since the appointment we have been racking our brains for a way to make next weeks appointment go smoother than it went today. So far our plan is to “visit” the office a couple of times this weekend. Our other plan is to bribe her…yep, I’m thinking chocolate.

The issue we’re facing is that this is not something we can put off. If her eye is crossing in and we don’t take care of it now, it’s only going to get worse and will potentially affect both eyes. This will result in even more severe problems in the future. We must have her eyes looked at now…and Ella must cooperate in order to get a good reading on what is wrong.

So I’m asking now, 9 days in advance, that you all please start praying for next Wednesday at 8:45 am. Please…please…please pray that Ella will be calm enough to let them get a good assessment of her eyes. Please pray that she’ll cooperate and look at the little light and do all that great stuff that they need in order to determine what prescription she’ll need. Just please pray.