Josiah's Journey

If you've followed along this far, you know that we had spent much of Josiah's early days in hospitals. Fortunately he did not have any heart problems.  Heart problems are very common for children with Downs Syndrome.  We did however, have the cataract issue to contend with.  The pediatric opthalmologist wanted to remove it when Josiah was 6 weeks old.  Being in the hospital with RSV changed that.

We waited until he was 9 weeks old and much healthier.  This time our hospital visit was just a one night stay and was necessary only to ensure Josiah had no complications from the procedure.  Cake walk.  Or so I thought.  What I hadn't bargained on was what followed the surgery.

The cataract on Josiah's left eye was removed, but now he needed something to help with his vision.  He was a tiny infant who slept most of the time.  Glasses were not the answer.  But contacts were. This is the mom who had never at that point worn glasses or had contacts or any reason to ever put anything even remotely close to her eye, other than mascara on eye lashes.  The doctor was telling me it would be my job to insert and remove the contact from Josiah's eye daily.  GULP.

Sometimes there are things we do not want to do.  Things we would avoid at all costs, if at all possible.  This was one of them.  It was not possible.  I had to do this for my son.  So, I loaded all 5 children (we were homeschooling at the time)  into our van and drove one hour across town to learn how to insert a contact on the eye of an infant.

Oh, that was not a pleasant experience.  With hind sight, I should have gotten a babysitter for the other kids.  With hind sight, I should have had a glass, no, a bottle of wine to drink first.  And I am not a drinker. With hind sight, I should have just sent my husband.  But I didn't. 

One thing about me, if I HAVE to do something, I put my all into it.  I determine early on that God will equip me and I will do it.  So, I was determined. I could do this.  I would do this.  For Josiah. 

Josiah wasn't so sure.  The technician came in, showed me the hard contact, explained the steps in the procedure and effortlessly plopped the lense in place.  Josiah wasn't happy, but it all happened so fast that he rebounded rather quickly.  Once he was calm, she explained the removal procedure.  She produced a tiny plunger, held his lids wide open, attached it to the contact and out it popped.   He hardly noticed.

Now it was my turn.  I was very mindful of that fact that Josiah already knew what was coming.  I wasn't sure he would be happy to go through it all over again, especially with a novice.  I was mindful that the room we were in was warm and full of my other children who were sitting and watching and waiting.  I was mindful of the fact that until I did this, none of us were going anywhere.  I had already been warned.  So  feeling, no pressure what so ever (HA) I straddled his little body, propped his tiny eyelids open with the thumb and finger of one hand and attempted to center the lense over his eye and drop it in. Many times.

Josiah was done with it all after just a few attempts.  He was hysterical.  The others were miserable.  They were not happy listening to their brother scream.  They were hot.  They were hungry.  The wanted to go home and repeatedly told me so.   Josiah needed a break.  The technician left the room so I could hold him, comfort him and calm him.  Then, I could try again. 

It was nothing short of a miracle straight from heaven above.  Eventually I did get the lense in.  Whew...we are out of here.  The kids were cheering.  We began gathering our coats.  SO glad this was all behind us.
The technician stopped me,  "You can't leave, until you can also remove the lense.  It will take practice, but you'll get it.  I'll help."

Here's how she helped.  She handed me the plunger.  She hovered over my right shoulder as I straddled Josiah, eyelids propped, ready to plunge.  I moved in close, created suction by putting my thumb over the airhole in the plunger and aimed for the contact.  At that moment, she casually mentions, "Oh and be very careful.  If you miss and hit his cornea, you could rip it right off and cause permanent blindness."

Shortly thereafter, we opted for glasses.