I can see!
I can see! Yeah!
Wednesday, October 31, half way through the day, I was eating a truffle. It was coated in cocoa powder. Suddenly, my eye felt dry like the cocoa powder had gotten in. I grabbed some saline and rinsed my eye. It still felt irritated.
I proceeded through the day with finishing touches on the kids’ costumes. By the time it was time to go to my brother in-law’s, I was sure I had pinkeye. Gabriel and Hannah had pinkeye on the 19th and had been treated for it. But here this was a week later, and I was coming down with it. To top it off, that night we were the night nursing shift. My eye continued to feel dry and itchy. Insanely itchy! I wanted to go home and stick my head under a facet and let water run through my eye.
I made it through dinner and trick-or-treating as my eye burned and began to blur. I could feel gunk coalescing at the corner of my eye. I gave in and took a Kleenex to itch and wipe at it. We made it home where I disappeared to drop more saline in my eye, and I even tried washing it out with no-tears baby shampoo.
We settled the kids down. I looked up pinkeye online, and the sites suggested warm compresses could help. So I microwaved some water and sat a pile of gauze next to me. I pulled out a new bottle of Purel to cleanse my hands between compresses. I tried to sleep on the floor next to the trashcan. Sleep wasn’t easy. I would place a compress till it was too cold, then I would toss it into the trash. When Robert woke me up at 2 am, he winced and sent me to bed. I took a shower and went to bed; I took my bowl of water and gauzes with me.
Robert took a medical day and made me a doctor’s appointment. Which was good. My right eye was bloated, leaking, and I it took great effort to open it. There would have been no way I could of drove. Luckily, we had a day nurse so Robert only had to wrangle Gabriel and me into the doctor’s office.
When we walked into the office the nurses said, "We are going to take you back right now."
I left Robert to do the check in stuff. I didn’t touch anything while they weighed me and escorted Gabriel and I to the examination room. Gabriel looked up from his game boy, "Are you going to get a shot?" I had both kids get their flu shots when they had pinkeye.
"I don’t think so."
A minute after Robert made it to the room, our doctor came in. He paused, smirked, and laughed. I was a sight. The great thing about him is he became my doctor right when Hannah was in PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care); he knows what my life is like. I don’t have to explain things; he knows I don’t come in unless I have to. He listens; he actually treats me in regards to what Hannah has had. He knows that there is a symbiotic nature between parents and children, so he asks relevant questions.
He backed up a foot and asked, "Anything else new and weird."
I mentioned some spots I thought were deep pimples.
He looked at them. "I don’t know. I’m pretty sure they’re not Shingles, but I’m sending you home with a lab kit in case they start to ooze."
"Well, Hannah carries Strep and Pseudomonous. She hasn’t been positive for MRSA lately."
He pauses over his notes, "What antibiotics don’t work for Hannah."
In other words, he knows I’m exposed to her bugs, and if they are superbugs, the average antibiotic won’t work. He gives me antibiotics and eye drops and glances at Robert. Nothing yet for Robert until he woke up the next day.
--Mom
