Eye, Eye Captain!

Why is R. Excited???

We made a stop at the eye doctor yesterday at Costco.  R.'s teacher had said that he was having trouble seeing the board and wanted to have his eyes checked.  I like Costco because the eye exam is only $49!  You really can't beat that!

What I didn't count on was how crowded it was and that I should have made an appointment.  Just as I was trying to book one for next week, two people cancelled and--just like that--we were in!  Sometimes I'd rather be lucky than good!

R. actually wanted to get glasses.  Why, I have no idea.  Having glasses is just a big pain!  He kept on asking if he was going to be able to get a pair of reading glasses.  Luckily, the kid loves to read.  :-)

The doctor told us that we should have his pupils dilated for the exam.  That would cost an extra $29 bucks to stick a couple of drops in each eye.  Something tells me that that's a hidden profit center for optometrists around the country.

Still, what are you going to do as a parent?  If the doctor says that the test will be better if they're dilated, I have to believe that.  I paid the extra money--figuring that even though the total cost of the visit was now up to $78, I was still far ahead of where I would have been if I'd gone to a regular optometrist.

Extreme Close-up!  R. had me take this picture to see what his
eyes looked like with his pupils dilated.

The doctor was very nice and the good news was that his prescription was very slight.  In fact, it was so slight that she didn't even recommend that he get glasses.  She said he could wait another year and see how he was doing.  It was a bit of a relief for me, but R. was a little disappointed he couldn't get any reading glasses.  I'm sure he'll get over it!