Andrew Peterson Does Not Have Retinoblastoma

While playing black-light pirate themed mini-golf last night, Ritchey took a flash picture of her lover, Andrew (video). Later, when looking at all the funny pictures we had taken Andrew noticed that while one eye had the traditional "red eye" of flash photography, his other eye was a milky white color. This made him very upset, as he had read some time ago that this was a sign of something very bad.

We all agreed he was being a baby. I told him that maybe he just had a lazy eye, so it didn't full catch the redeye effect of the other eye as it wasn't at the same angle to the camera. I had him follow my finger and then I asked, "Wait, was it this eye?"

"Yes." he said.

"Well, that's it then! You just have a lazy eye!" I lied.

I told him that a friend of my parent's had recently had eye cancer and they took his eye out! This did not make Andrew feel better.

So, in order to prove to Andrew that he was fine, I turned to my iPhone and Googled something like "white eye flash photo". I came upon this page: Retinoblastoma.

I read these parts aloud to Andrew: Retinoblastoma is a malignant tumor of childhood that grows in the retina. If your child’s pupil appears white, such as in a flash photograph, contact an ophthalmologist (Eye M.D.) as soon as possible. Retinoblastoma can destroy a child’s vision. It can even be fatal. Sometimes an eye with retinoblastoma will cross or turn outward.

"See!" I said excitedly, "You do have a lazy eye!"

At this point Andrew seemed a little too worried, and Ritchey tried to console him. "Honey, you don't have a malignant eye tumor."

I added, "It says here that in severe cases, the affected eye is removed to avoid spread of the tumor."

So, because he seemed really concerned, I called a doctor. I left a message about Retinoblastoma and Andrew's number and asked that she give him a call.

We stopped to pick up some pizza and Andrew asked Steve to take some flash photos of his eyes to try to reproduce the effect. Steve said it was too light outside, so once we were inside Andrew pulled Ritchey into the restroom and had her try. Still no luck. I was next. We boldly waked past the private party that was happening in the room outside the bathroom, went inside together, and locked the door. I turned off the lights and took a number of photos. When we left the bathroom I had forgotten to slip my camera back into my pocket, so we walked out of the bathroom together with my carrying a camera and Andrew looking very happy, because we had a photo showing two wonderful red eyes.