The Patch

It's that time again. Joshua has a weak eye, so for the past year, as per the opthalmologist's instructions, we've been patching his good eye every 3 months. He only has to wear it for 6 hours each day, and we do it for 3 weeks each time. It is not a fun time in our home when he has to start wearing it again. Actually, getting in on the mornings is the biggest struggle. He just hates to wear it, so it's all he can do to let us put it on. The patch itself is like a big round band-aid that sticks on over the eye. I actually have to trim the patches before we put them on so that it covers less of his little face (even though they are meant for children). You have to stick it on correctly the first time (which requires him to be still) because you can't take it off and do it again. Poor guy. He tries to be brave, but he really just hates to wear it not only because it's irritating to have it on, but also because it's just harder for him to see well out of his weak eye. Of course, that's the whole point, to make the weak eye work harder so that it becomes stronger. The opthamologist actually told us that if we didn't do anything to correct the weak eye, it would eventually just stop working and he would only use his good eye to see with. Wow - certainly don't want that! So, we carry on with the patch proceedings every 3 months and keep telling him how good this is for him. We've also tried to provide incentive for him to get the patch on in the mornings. You know, there is a fine line between reward and bribery, but we're hoping we're leaning toward reward. :o) However, because this is such an ordeal, we're trying a bigger incentive this time. In the past he's been able to tear off a link to a construction paper chain that we made, one link for each day he has to wear it. Other times he's been able to choose a sticker to put on a calendar for each day he wears it. This time we actually attached a piece of candy to a chart so that now once he puts the patch on, he gets to take the piece of candy off and eat it. Yeah, we're getting desperate. But one little piece of candy is worth not taking 2 hours to get the thing on every morning. Once he has it on, and after we get past the first couple of days, he does fine wearing it. He can't wait until the afternoon when he can take it off, but he usually doesn't try to take it off early or anything. Today is day 2, only 19 more days to go!