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Joe goes to the eye clinic
This is a short story about a little boy and his mother who goes to the eye clinic for the first time. It explains what happens at the clinic, what the doctor does, how the eye tests are performed, and the kind of questions the eye doctor will ask.
(Click here to HEAR this story)
Going to the Eye Clinic
One night after tea Joe’s mum said to him, “I had a phone call from the nurse today, and tomorrow we are going to the eye clinic at the hospital.”
Joe had been given a sight test the week before and he hadn’t been able to see all the shapes of the letters on the card which the nurse had held up so he wasn’t really surprised at this news.
“Is it far to the hospital?” Joe asked his mum.
“No, not far” answered mum, but dad needs the car so we’ll go on the bus. It’ll take about twenty minutes.”
“Will it hurt?” asked Joe.
“No, the lady will test your eyes and then you will see the doctor and he will shine a light into your eye while you keep still, but it won’t hurt” said mum.
“All right” said Joe and he watched his favourite programme on television, then went to bed.
Next morning after breakfast they put on their coats and walked to the bus stop. They caught a bus which took them right to the gate of the hospital and walked the short distance to the door marked “Out Patients”. Inside there was a big counter, like a Post Office, with ladies working at computers, and Joe’s mum went up to one, who looked up, smiled and said “Can I help you?”
“Yes” said mum, “we have an appointment for the eye clinic, but we’re a bit early”.
“That’s all right,” answered the lady, “Just follow the signs to the eye clinic, and take a seat in the waiting area. Joe can go into the play area and the play lady will help him to find something interesting to play with.”
Eye Tests
There were two girls playing at cooking in the play area but Joe found some lorries and soon he had made a garage when his mum, who was sitting watching him, called him, “Joe, it’s your turn to have your test now”. They went into a long room with a window covered by a dark blind so that the lights were on even though it was only mid-morning. Joe was pleased to see posters of Postman Pat and Thomas the tank engine on the walls and he sat beside his mum while the lady told him that she was going to show him some shapes on a card and ask him to point to shapes which looked the same as the ones on the card he was holding. Joe had a patch over one eye so that the lady could test each eye by itself. The shapes printed on the lady’s card became more and more difficult to see, as they were getting smaller and smaller.
Then the lady said, “Thank you Joe, you did that very nicely but there were one or two mistakes so we’ll do some other tests in a few minutes. First though, I’ll ask nurse to put some drops in your eyes so that the doctor can see right inside your eyes with his special torch”.
They went across the passage into another room where Joe sat in a big black chair which tilted back so that he was nearly lying down, and the nurse said, “This is like getting water in your eyes when you go swimming. It isn’t very nice for a few seconds, and then it’s all right again”. Sure enough it did nip for a moment or two but then it was all right again and Joe felt fine and went back to play with the lorries.
Been Consulted by a doctor
After ten minutes the nurse came across to Joe and shone a flashlight at his eyes. “I just want to see that the drops have worked”, she said, “and they have. The black parts in the middle of your eyes are much bigger now so that’s good, and the doctor can have a proper look in a few more minutes”.
Joe and his mum then went into the doctor’s room. It had a desk and chairs and lots of shiny instruments on trolleys as well as a computer. The blind was closed and the lights were on when they came in and the doctor told them where to sit.
Joe sat facing the doctor who began by asking how he was, and whether it was hard to see things clearly. Then he asked Joe’s mum quite a lot of questions and wrote on a sheet of paper in a brown folder which had Joe’s name and his birthday printed on it. Eventually he turned to Joe and explained that he was going to do some tests, but they wouldn’t hurt. He asked Joe to keep still and look across to the other side of the room. Then he shone a bright light from a special sort of torch with a wobbly green frog on it into each eye and held up some round bits of glass which the doctor called lenses.
Doctor Does More Tests
When he had done that he reached for another light and shone it into Joe’s eyes, asking him to look straight ahead at first, then up and down and sideways. Finally he said thank you to Joe and told him that he had been a great help. Then he said something too Joe’s mum and gave her a printed form. He asked her if she had any questions for him, and then it was time to go. Joe wanted to play with the lorries again but mum bought him some juice and out they went to catch the bus.
When they reached home Joe said, “That was all right. Are we going back there again?”
“You have to get glasses”, answered mum, “Then we’ll go back. Tomorrow we’ll go to the optometrist”.
Seeing a Eye Specialist
Next day they went to the shopping centre where there was an optometrist in a shop with big windows. Joe tried on lots of pairs of glasses until they found something which fitted him and he really liked it when he looked in the mirror. The optometrist took the form from mum and said that the glasses would be ready in three days. When they went back to collect the glasses Joe tried them on and soon he became used to them.
When they went back to the hospital the lady they had seen before fitted a patch over Joe’s left eye and said that he should wear it for two hours every day to do lots of drawing and colouring in. They went back to see her every two weeks for two months, and Joe could see much better with his glasses by the end of that time. After that he did not need to wear patches or go so often. The lady at the hospital was pleased with Joe, and his mum thanked her, and the nurses, for being so helpful.