Last week Katie was getting out of a dining room chair, and sort of fell off the seat instead of plopping down gracefully as she normally does. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her bonk her head, and as she landed she started complaining and rubbing her eye and blinking a lot. When I checked her eye (prying it open while I held her in a headlock), I could just see a little line across her iris when it caught the reflection from the window just right. Naturally this occurred a) while Paul was here, b) right before naptime, and c) while the doctor's office was closed for lunch. After a couple minutes of whining, she seemed perfectly fine again, so I just gave her some pain killer and put her to bed. When the office finally opened, the nurse told me to go ahead and bring her in that afternoon, which I had originally planned to use to replenish our Mother Hubbard-like cupboards. So I arranged for Paul to be picked up early, and off we went to see the doctor.
Most of you know I used to work for an animal hospital, so detecting & treating eye injuries wasn't news to me. We were taken into a windowless exam room, where we read about 47 books, give or take, while we waited for the doctor. When she finally came in she touched a slim piece of paper with florescent dye on it to the edge of Katie's eyelid. Then she turned on a UV lamp and turned off the overhead light. I wish I had thought to bring the camera: Katie glowed in the dark! Both her flowery sundress and her right eye were glowing florescently. The dye did show a scratch on her cornea, so the doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotic/anti-inflammatory eye drops and off we went to join the rush hour traffic on the Beltway.
After waiting in line forever to pick up the unbelievably expensive drops (thank heavens for insurance!), I had to administer them 3 times a day -- again prying her eyeball open while holding her in a headlock. She hated it, but actually cooperated as much as she could. It was kind of cute -- when I told her it was time for her eyedrops, she would run to grab a tissue, place a pillow on the couch, and then lean her head back against it, screwing her eyes shut tight. She would whine while I was trying to open her eye, but after I finally got the drop in (which always seemed to get squeezed right back out when she blinked) and counted to 10, she would wipe the tear away with her tissue, and merrily go on her way. She's actually pretty docile when she realizes that This Is The Way Things Are Going To Be So It's In Your Best Interest To Cooperate.
Two days later we went back for a follow up, and followed the same routine: after 1,000 books we had another glow-in-the-dark Katie show -- this time I pulled out a mirror so she could see herself ("I'm all glowy! My eye is gweeeeeen!"). Her eye was completely fine -- the doctor had said it would probably heal within 24 hours, but we needed to be diligent with the drops since eye injuries get infected so easily.
So, now I have a 1/4 oz. bottle of $27 antibiotic eyedrops, and a couple more gray hairs (added to those I earned when Miriam broke a tooth on the piano bench).
Now, can anyone tell me what's up with Miriam's left eye?
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UPDATE
Well, another $20 and an afternoon driving in rush hour traffic later, we learned that Miriam has a stye. Fortunately we're able to use the same drops we used for Katie. After just one application the eye looked remarkably better. After a couple days of treatment it's almost gone. Thank goodness for modern medicine!
Thanks be to God that Katie's eye is OK! I think those are some of the scariest injuries. It sounds like she's a little trouper.
ReplyDeleteHas Miriam been rubbing her left eye? It looks like the eyelid is swollen from some kind of irritation or infection.
Oh, my goodness, Mrs. Pickles. Being a mother ain't for wimps. You know me, I'm feeling squeamish and queasy reading this post. Shakey shakey.
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