Leukoria

When James was just a few months old we noticed a white reflection in his left eye. Knowing full well that this was a symptom of a horrible eye cancer I was very nervous. I took James to his pediatrician to get his eyes examined.  After looking in his left eye the doctor left the room and brought back two more doctors. Each of them examined his eyes and came to the conclusion that there was nothing blocking the reflection (i.e. tumor). I was relieved. His doctor said that his eyes weren't tracking 100% together but that it should probably go away within a few months.
Well, it didn't. In most photos of James his left eye has a white reflection. I made an appointment with an orthopedic opthalmolagist three months in advance because they are apparently hard to come by. When the day finally came I was a mess. I was, of course, assuming the worst. That my baby had cancer, would lose and eye and our world would never be the same.  I walked out to the car and the battery was dead. Despite Paul coming to jump the car as fast as he could, we missed the appointment and they refused to see us.  The receptionist told me how important it was to get him looked at right before informing me that the next available appointment was in April of next year!!
And so I made an appointment at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City for two weeks later.  This time I was much calmer. I can't honestly say that I've ever felt prayers on my behalf before this. Family and friends were praying for James and his name was on at least 2 different prayer rolls.
Initially he did very well on the vision tests. They hold up huge flash cards with a box made up of varying sizes of lines. Some are so faint you can barely see them. At one point James was pointing to boxes that my eyes couldn't even make out. Then they dialated his eyes and the opthalmolagist ruled out cancer right away.  He then explained that the optic nerve in his left eye has partial "coating" on it. The nerves in our bodies are protected with a special coating very similar to electrical wires. However, in the eyes the nerves are exposed. In James' eye the very tip of the optic nerve is covered causing it to appear white (called leukoria) in flash photography.  There was a lot of screaming while the doctor looked into his eyes. He was also able to determine that James is near-sighted. He said that most kids with glasses are far-sighted because it is very obvious that they can't see and that most near-sighted children aren't diagnosed until they are doing poorly in school since they can see up to some point. So it turns out that it was a good thing that I took him in because I honestly didn't think that he had vision problems.  Now to get some glasses that don't make him look like Harry Potter. And then to learn the secret of keeping them on his head...