We took a mini-vacation to a water-park last weekend. Tommy's dad ran a marathon, so we tacked on a family vacation to it. Overall it was tons of fun. It is always great to have a few days off of work, cooking, laundry, and cleaning. BUT... there is always a but, right? Just before leaving, someone posted a question about baby goggles on an aphakic web page. Baby goggles? Yes, apparently in addition to worrying about LOSING a contact, I also had to worry about it getting infected with nasty pool-germs. What? Ok, so I know pools are gross, but as the mother of 4, I've gotten over a lot of my squeamish tendencies. I fully believe in the 3-second rule, and I've looked the other way when I see Tommy chewing on one of his own shoes. I can let myself forget all the 20/20 shows with the blacklights and sit on the bed in the hotel room, and although I know pools are gross, kids love water parks, and the germs never hurt anyone with a fully functional immune system. But... when it comes to Tommy's eyes, I tend to be a little over-the-top wimpy. According to moms on the website, the Silsoft contact he wears can absorb germs. So any water that gets in his eye could be dangerous. Of course, I read this at 8pm the night before we leave so there is no way I can call his ophthalmologist, so I have to believe in this. Yuck, ugh, mini "woe is me" melt-down. Now what? Does he have to sit out and lose out on any fun? Should I worry more when I give him a bath?
It all worked out fine, Tommy isn't old enough to do any slides, so I patched in the morning with contact in and basically held him while I watched his sisters have fun. (My arms were TIRED!) Each afternoon, I'd take the contact out and he could go in the kiddie-pool for a little bit and splash away at his heart's content. I know, it wasn't a big deal, but it isn't FAIR! I know, there are so many other worse things. He is a healthy little boy and is making great progress. But I was jealous. Jealous of all those little babies splashing away in the pool without a care in the world. And yes, he was one of them for a little bit each day, but for 6 hours, he was stuck watching with his patch on. People were generally gracious about his patch- although I did want to get business cards printed up with his story so I wouldn't have to repeat myself... or listen when people thought he had a lazy-eye and shared story after story with me about themselves, their son/daughter/cousin/friend/etc. I did patiently explain (when asked) or nod (when they assumed) but it was tiring. If I'm this tired of what I have to deal with, I can't imagine how tired he must be of having to wear that itchy, hot, sticky patch each day.
