In short, there is a program through TriCare, our health insurance through the military that many families do not know about. Why, well thats a really good question. The ECHO, or Extended Care Health Options coverage goes beyond what our insurance already covers, or in our case, does not cover, for medically needed devices/ things regular tricare does not cover. Now, I will come back to this ECHO in a moment....
Landricks eyes are, well bad. He was this adorable little boy that at around 9 months, we kept asking his PCM " Why isn't he walking? He wants to so bad but anytime we let him go he falls to the ground, and he keeps looking at things really close to his face." The reply was always the same- " well he is just so into everything and wants to know how everything works.. he is fine. Hes a smart baby and will do great things when hes older" Now, as a mother, I know my kid will. Thats what every mother knows, hello! However, after repeat concern and asking, his PCM finally said he would send us to a peds opthamologist.
Fantastic right!!! We went and got told, oh he needs glasses. Oh. Ok. no big deal... but it was.
Five years later at age six now, Landrick's eyes have progressed worse as the past five years have gone on. He is still an adorable little kid in his glasses. He went from looking like a little Albert Einstein in glasses to a kid shaped into his own little persona with those glasses. As he's gotten older, his fashion sense has kicked in and well, he picks out what HE likes, what HE wants, and what HE is in the mood for. But, one thing that mom and dad don't like, don't want and aren't in the mood for- reality.
The reality has always been there. In very black and white with no real explanation until the past few, maybe two years or so. Landrick was given a handicap place card for our vehicles. Even with his fancy glasses that literally cost us a small fortune of over $500.00 each time we have to pay for them, he still has issues with depth perception, hand eye coordination, and using his eyes the correct way. One might that that using your eyes, how do you control that. IN MANY WAYS. We have patched, patched, and done many different eyeglass types like bi-focals and almost tri-foicals ( we didn't want to do that since we hadn't gotten any real change with the other therapy methods and well, they cost even more than what we cant afford now.) The reality is, without his eyeglasses, Landrick could and most likely will go blind.
Now, being the mother I am, and after having researched many things on his eye conditions, I KNOW I can help with him NOT going blind. The small fortune we have forked out over the past five years for many sets of new eye glasses ( and not because of expensive frames... its the prescription lenses for him that cost the absolute most) doesn't even come close to the drive I have to make sure he doesn't lose his vision. Is he doing better, well sure. He does great with the glasses... except, school work is a challenge most days, his eyes if they are overworked make him have headaches and migraines, and well, it gets exhausting and mentally straining on not only him, but mom and dad here financially. Do we let him know that, no. We always do what we have to do to make sure that he has the ABSOLUTE best eye care and glasses we can afford, even if we can't because well, he deserves it. We make it happen. Even Grandma and Grandpa have helped make it happen. And we are super thankful for when they have helped.
So, back to this ECHO thing... that I mentioned above, yea so after going rounds and rounds trying to get even enrolled into the program ( that Im basically a pro at trying to do now), clinical notes, a referral and now a letter of medical necessity have been sent over to them and from now on, no more financial struggles trying to get Landrick the glasses he needs. ECHO has called and he has been successfully enrolled and the cost share is based on dads rank in the Army. So, we go from $500+ dollars to paying a $25 dollar cost share for when we need to use it, its not every month. CAN WE SAY AWESOME!!! I know, Im excited.
The real kicker here is though, that letter of medical necessity. I can research, ask questions, and make calls until I am blue in the face... but when things stare you in the face in black and white like this.... it sinks in a little deeper and makes my efforts as a mother, that much more worth everything I have done for him.
"Without glasses he could permanently lose vision in one or both eyes." The months that its taken us to even get into this program and the running around I have done to do it... all worth it now. First of all, I can't thank his eye doctor enough. He has been a wonderful person to work with and is very understanding of not only his eye issues, but other medical needs as well.
When people look at Landrick, they just see a six year old that has a goofy demeanor, a smile all the time and glasses. As his parents, we see a kid that we have to make sure not only does he live his life to the fullest, but that he understands as he gets older, we will never hold him back, but will be very cautious of sports he plays, and things he engages in to prevent any injury to his head, as his eyes are much more vulnerable than others to injury.
** Please note- the doctor did not put that Landrick has " High Degenerative Myopia" in the letter, they just needed to know the underlying condition, however he does have the HD Myopia and Esotropia and they have those records on file with ECHO.**
*Amblyopia occurs when the nerve pathway from one eye to the brain does not develop during childhood. This occurs because the abnormal eye sends a blurred image or the wrong image to the brain.
This confuses the brain, and the brain may learn to ignore the image from the weaker eye.
*Strabismus is the most common cause of amblyopia. There is often a family history of this condition.
*The term "lazy eye" refers to amblyopia, which often occurs along with strabismus. However, amblyopia can occur without strabismus and people can have strabismus without amblyopia.
*Children with a refractive error (nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism) will need glasses.
*A patch is placed on the normal eye. This forces the brain to recognize the image from the eye with amblyopia. Sometimes, drops are used to blur the vision of the normal eye instead of putting a patch on it.
*Degenerative Myopia Degenerative myopia is the seventh leading cause of legal blindness, occurring in about 2% of the U.S. population. This condition can start at birth, but most often starts during the pre-teen years. It is believed to be hereditary.
Degenerative myopia is more severe than other forms of myopia and is associated with retina changes, potentially causing severe vision loss. It progresses rapidly, and visual outcome depends largely on the extent of fundus and lenticular changes. The diagnosis of degenerative myopia is accompanied by characteristic chorioretinal degenerations. Pathologic myopes, particularly those with higher refractive errors, are at risk for retinal detachment and macular changes.
Patients with degenerative myopia typically complain of decreased vision, headaches, and sensitivity to light. If retinal degeneration or detachment is present, patients may also report light flashes and floaters, which are associated with retina changes. Those with degenerative myopia have an increased incidence of cataract formation (nuclear cataracts are most typical).
*Esotropia describes an inward turning of your eye and is the most common type of strabismus in infants. Young children with esotropia do not use their eyes together. In most cases, special glasses, bifocals, or early surgery to align the eyes is needed to allow for binocular vision development and to prevent permanent vision loss.Decreased vision, Decreased depth perception, and Crossing or inward deviation of the eyes, often intermittently at first.
I hope this gives you a little bit of a better understand of what life is like for not only us, but MANY parents with " Kids with Glasses" Many eye conditions are out there, and this is just a little piece of what we have been dealing with, and what we will be helping our son to understand as time goes on.
-Heather
p.s- I will post photos of his new glasses that should be here in the next week or so :) We have one pair and the other is still being made.
