"I can see!"

Those are the words our son said with lots of excitement as he achieved success in getting one contact lens in his eye. He could see. Those simple words may mean nothing to some, but to a little boy who has been burdened with glasses since he was 3, it means a whole new world is opening up for him. He has very bad vision and is legally blind without glasses. He is terribly farsighted. Playing sports has always been a challenge because he always has to compensate for those glasses.

He's in 4th grade this year and is old enough to play football for the first time ever. We have special glasses for him to play sports in, but these just wouldn't work under his helmet. No matter how hubby tried, the glasses just weren't going to work under a football helmet. Hubby decided we would get serious about checking into contacts as an option. Both hubby and I wear glasses, but neither of us has ever worn contacts. It's a whole new world for us.

They eye Dr. said he really needs hard lenses to be comparable to his prescription but we all agreed that it would be too hard for a 9-yr-old boy to adjust to hard lenses. Ideally, disposable lenses will be best, but it was going to be a challenge to find the right prescription for him. The eye Dr. got him started on a trial pair and we will give it a week to see how it goes. Each day he will get to wear his contacts longer and longer to allow his eyes time to adjust.

He has to learn how to put them in himself and take them out too, but this is something he really wants to do. He was so excited when he called me at work and said he was wearing sunglasses. It's the first time he's had the chance to wear some cool sunglasses. They just don't make cool shades for kids with glasses. He's always had to walk past the sunglasses in the stores. Not anymore. My boy gets to wear whatever he wants.