Poor boy's poor vision

When I went to Sofie's house for my raya visit more than a week ago, I was told that Sofie had brought her 11 year old son, Saiful, to an optical shop just to get his eyes tested for free.

The people there told her that Saiful needed to wear glasses ASAP as the power needed is already too high. They told her that since the power is so high, a cheaper pair of glasses would be rather thick and as such, a bit heavy too. So they recommended that a thinner/more expensive pair is made for Saiful. The cost? More than RM200 (this is after discount for student package). They also told her that after a year, Saiful would need to make a new pair. Since Sofie couldn't afford it, she told them she'd come back later. They gave her a card with Saiful's details, plus a discount voucher and told her to bring them the next time she comes.

So I planned to bring Saiful to the optician to make a pair of glasses yesterday. Together with a trainee volunteer, off we went to Sofie's house after lunch.

Sofie was too tired to follow us, so it was just me, my colleague and Saiful. Saiful is so used to me by now he has no problems coming with me without his mother tagging along. According to Sofie, her youngest girl, Ika, had wanted to ponteng sekolah when she heard I was coming to fetch Saiful. She wanted to come along. But Sofie managed to coax her not to.

Sofie did give me the card and discount voucher given to her earlier. The card showed that the power needed for Saiful's glasses were 350 for the left eye and 200 for the right. Oh wow, that bad... I thought.

My colleague and I decided to go to another optical shop in town. At least we'd have a second opinion on what kind of glasses Saiful really needs.

After testing his eyes, the optician told us to bring Saiful to see an eye specialist. The power needed for his left eye was actually 600!!! The right eye is normal. They didn't dare make a glass that thick for Saiful without a specialist's recommendation. Imagine from no glasses to wearing glasses THAT thick - surely it would be hard for Saiful to adjust. According to the guy, he suspects there may be other problems with Saiful's left eye.

I'm glad we didn't go the optical shop that Sofie went to earlier. Obviously they just want to make money. At least this one that we went to yesterday were more honest. They could easily kelentong us and told us to immediately make a pair of glasses for Saiful, but they instead opted to tell us the truth and recommended what was best for Saiful.

So Saiful needs to see an eye specialist. There's no eye specialist at the district hospital in the town where they live, so he needs to come to the Ipoh GH Specialist Clinic. But we can't bring him to the specialist clinic just like that. We'd need a referral letter.

My colleague and I figured we might as well settle the matter yesterday. We decided to bring Saiful to the District Hospital, see a doctor at the outpatients clinic, and hopefully get a referral letter to go to Ipoh GH specialist clinic.

But Saiful didn't bring along his birth cert, and so we had to head back to his home first to get it. Then off again to the District Hospital.

Lucky for us there weren't too many patients there in the afternoon. With the last number called being 1420, I got 1428. Just 8 patients away. Thank goodness.

To cut the story short, after all the eye tests done on Saiful, the doctor did give us the much sought referral letter. We can now go to the Eye Specialist Clinic in Ipoh GH anytime to give Saiful the opportunity of proper check-up and treatment for his eye.

After sending Saiful home, I asked Sofie when she would be coming to Ipoh next. She'd need to get her supply of medication some time end of this month. I told her I'd call her if I can arrange to come and fetch Saiful any earlier to bring him see the specialist, but if for any reason I'm not able to do that, at least Sofie must bring Saiful along with her the next time she comes to Ipoh, which is in 3 weeks time.

Whatever it is, at least we've got the referral letter done. One step at a time.

But you know what really amazed me yesterday? We were chatting in the car and I asked Saiful about his school exams.

"OK lah, tak lah susah sangat," he said.

"Periksa tengah tahun hari tu dapat nombor berapa?" I asked.

"Nombor satu."

"Waah... berapa orang dalam kelas?"

"42 orang."

What can I say but... WOW!! Even with his vision problem he still managed to come out tops in class!

That fact made me even more determined to help the boy. A responsible young chap he really is, and bright too! Even my colleague who came along commented that the boy seemed like a very responsible and obedient type. And oh, handsome too! (If any one wants to look for bakal menantu in about 10 years time, all Sofie's kids are good looking - 3 boys and 1 girl... :))

I hope the specialist at the Ipoh GH eye clinic will be able to help Saiful. I hope it is not too late to help him with his left eye.