My eldest saw her School Doctor last term and was told to see an Opthamologist as they noticed a drop in vision in one eye. I booked the appointment (2month delay), was asked to go back and put drops in her eyes at an hour, then 55 minutes then 50 minutes before the rendez vous (these stung and she is a drama queen at the best of times so this was great fun). I collected her from school and put the first set in right there in the car park....screamed the place down. I drove out of the village and had to stop as the 5 mins were now up. Next lot of drops inserted next to the poo farm (sorry herbal ecological cleaning plant), off we went and arrived at next village, stop outside cave cooperative for next set of drops..more screaming. And off again until we finally arrived at the Ophthalmologists.
First was a quick check up with eye technician, next into a different room for some more in depth tests which involved lots of pointing which way round the letter E was facing. Something she did with ease using her strong eye. What amazed me though was how she took all this in her stride and responded in fluent French. I don't get to hear her speak much French as of course we speak English at home but it makes me smile and enormously proud to hear her responding to questions.
Next was another wait until we saw the Eye Doctor who had a good look and said she needed Glasses and gave us a prescription. It's been 3 months since she chose her sparkly pink glasses and so today we went back for a check up and she was cleared for 6 months. Great news as our next focus is now on her teeth...
Again last term, we had a check up with the Dentist and he referred her to the Orthodontist for an overbite. Well it is more significant in fact as her bottom jaw isn't growing at the same speed as the top jaw and on top of that she sucks her thumb and she does a funny thing with her jaw and bites her bottom lip with her top teeth forcing her top jaw forward.
First appt was the initial assessment, second appt was xrays and a mould of her mouth taken, 3rd appt was a bilan, the results. All her adult teeth look fine but there is not enough space for them unless her jaw is sorted out so she has been prescribed a special appareil for her to wear at home and at night. I was given a delightful set of her ceramic teeth from the mould to take away (which they all find hilarious - especially when I say if she doesn't brush properly she'll have to put these in just like Nanny). The Orthodontist is fantastic though with her and again I was amazed at her level of understanding and fluency. I am so proud of her, she was so well behaved.
The devis was 640 euro - of which 193 is paid by RSI...and the remainder by my mutelle or myself. The surprise was that the mutuelle only covers 80 euro per 6 months of orthodontic treatment...so I'm left with a fairly hefty bill to settle then. At least he's a nice guy.
She's also got a prescription for 12 sessions with an orthophoniste or kine. I'm thinking of going to see the Kine she saw as a baby, one because I've been told there are really long waits for Orthophonistes and two because I really want to know if she recognises the Kine from the 9month biweekly sessions she had between 3m and 12m old. We affectionately refer to him as Mr Bear as he's a giant of a man but was as gentle as a big teddy. I really can't wait to see if there is any trigger of memory there from such an early age.
I've been told these sessions will be fully reimbursed thank goodness.
So I've got the Ortho fitting booked in for beginning of Oct and she has 6 weekly check ups after that...where to fit all this in our busy lives I honestly don't know!