Another Trip to the Eye Doctor

Josh developed eye redness again Wednesday morning. He got up crying in pain, his eye very red, and very sensitive to light.
His pediatric ophthalmologist asked us to bring him in on Thursday. By then, of course, the eye was not as red, since we took his contact lens out right away. He was also back on the abx drops. But it was still red.

The ped. ophth. said he needs a new contact lens, and not to put the old one back in his eye. We have one ordered, but it can take up to 2 weeks, depending on the mood of the insurance company. Funny thing, sometimes, the insurance company will tell us they only cover contact lenses if they are medically neccesary, and will deny Josh's lens. Then I have to do battle with them. Do they really think I would put a contact lens in my 5 1/2yo son's eye if it were not medically neccesary? Do they think we would have started this at the age of 6wks just because we did not like how he looked in glasses?! (He looks very cute in his glasses, by the way, but they do not take the place of his contact lens, they only help the contact lens, not replace.) We can go along for a while, with insurance paying for the lens, then suddenly, with no rhyme or reason, they give us problems and refuse to pay. So far, I have always managed to get them to pay. But there have been times I have had to write very strongly worded appeal letters. Hopefully, this will not be one of those times.

While we were at the ped. ophth's office, Josh fooled the tech when she tried to check his vision. She was holding the chart and stepped close to him, to push his glasses up on his nose higher. During that brief moment, Josh memorized the first 4 symbols on the chart. He had a smug look on his face while he pretended to read the eye chart.
I have noticed when he does not have his contact lens in place, he will not look at the eye chart during the exam, he will look down at his lap and guess. (unless, of course, he memorized the row.) I think he knows they would like him to try, so he just guesses, thinking this will make everyone happy. When they check his left eye, his healthy one, he will look at the chart. I pointed this out to the tech yesterday. I don't think she was aware of what he was doing. The ped ophth said it is hard when your child is a frequent flyer.