Where do we go from here? This was a question that would plague me for weeks. While we were at her pediatrician’s office during the months between our two testing appointments, I had already begun to weigh my options and look for another practice. I asked O’s doctor if he knew anyone else that we could see to finish up the testing. He shook his head, unaware of other specialists in the area that dealt with this type of diagnosis. His basic answer for all of my questions was simply, “you could get a second opinion.”
Second opinion… to me those words seem dirty and shameful. It’s not a second opinion I’m after. I’m just looking for a practice that is able to work with the needs of my family. I don’t disagree with the diagnosis or the treatment, we need flexibility and we deserve compassion.
After our initial testing was complete, I had resigned myself to see what this man had to say. I pleaded with my husband to move hell and earth to make it to that appointment for the final diagnosis and treatment plan. I wanted to make this work despite the effort I was going to have to put in to it, whether it was to miss school or work, beg for favors, whatever. I will do whatever it takes to help O.
That’s when it all started to come together. Divine intervention. We are fortunate enough to live in a neighborhood with a community swimming pool. It was a nice hot summer day when it seemed like most of the adults in the neighborhood played hooky from work in order to hang out at the pool. I was talking about the problems we were having with a new friend when she told me she knew at least two different people who had children in vision therapy. They just happened to be there that particular hot sunny day, and I was introduced to both of them.
The first parent was talking about it nonchalantly, like it was just a thing. Her child had been enrolled in vision therapy for “something or other, I can’t remember” (exact words) for a short period of eight weeks. Then she told me “ but he never practices his therapy.” I was baffled. Knowing what I know about the cost, why in the world would you just waste money and more importantly time? Would it work if you don’t practice at home? Could I just learn the exercises and do it without having to go to the office every week?
The second parent told me of their experience and it was quite similar, except her child was in therapy for 16 weeks. My first question was, where is this practice and how do you sign me up? My second question was, “could that mean we could have a shorter experience than 42 weeks? This sounds too good to be true. The burning question really was, both of these kids are older, could this practice actually treat my younger child?
This is how we found Eastern Virginia Eye Associates. When I went in for my annual eye appointment, I asked my optometrist about what they knew about their program, which was very little. I am amazed how little is known on this particular subject and how few health professionals know about this specialty.
We decided to do our own homework then. My husband Andy made the first contact. He was directed to Amanda who was able to answer some of our questions. Andy called me excited and suggested that I talk to Amanda myself. He seemed very optimistic that this could be the place to receive help. He briefed me on the synopsis of his conversation. First, the timeline of therapy was extremely different than what I expected. For O’s particular diagnosis, she would have to participate in 52 (not 42) weeks of therapy. O can receive an unlimited amount of therapy per week in the office as she needs it. This is evidenced by how well she is keeping up with the exercises at home. Sick days and family vacations are built into the program so she doesn’t miss out on treatment. Most importantly, they are willing to work with our insane schedules. She was willing to leave teh Thursday evening time slots available for us in the event I could not find an appropriate tim eduringthe week after school. that would make it easy for Andy to pick both of the kids up from daycare and take her to therapy. An evening appointment! This was the answer to all of our problems!
I couldn’t believe it. Andy suggested I call and speak to Amanda myself. Amanda gave so much of her time to me that day. We spoke for almost forty-five minutes and she answered every question with the utmost care and professionalism. She seemed to really care about what we were going through. She listened to me talk about O’s idiosyncrasies and started to develop strategies to integrate vision therapy into our lives. Her upbeat personality made me feel confident that we had found the right answer.
The best part? We can start in two weeks!! First we had meet with Dr. Ramos and have another consultation. We had to get the records from “the other guy” so she could have all of the necessary testing results. Unfortunately we had to repeat the first part of the testing. Although Dr. Ramos has worked with that other doctor, she can’t make a treatment plan based off of someone else’s diagnosis. This is technically the “second opinion” that I need to get in order to start working with this practice. After our initial consultation with Dr Ramos we can actually begin vision therapy! Unlike the “other guy,” we don’t have to wait for someone to graduate out of the program in order to start making progress. Amanda put us on the schedule that day.
So, we did it. We found our practice. The practice just happens to be five minutes from our house, five minutes from O’s school, five minutes from O’s daycare. From any point in the surrounding area of our home, it’s five minutes away. We never made it to that appointment with “the other guy” to get his final diagnosis. I wasn’t going to waste another minute.