Allergies and Contacts do not mix

Life just isn't fair.  As if poor  Tommy (and any iKid) didn't have enough to deal with- we apparently have added seasonal allergies to his list of medical drama.  Not great when you live in a house on 2.5 acres of land, 1 acre of which is just trees and weeds (umm, wildflowers?).  

Again?  At the doctor again?

After my last post- I didn't stop worrying.  Each morning I wiped his eyes and hoped that one more day of no contact, no patching wouldn't do long term damage.  Then- on the way into day care I hear "Mommy, eye hurt!" and crying from the back seat.  I am forcing myself not to panic.  I called the eye doctor, well, the receptionist, who basically said "go ahead and panic".  Maybe her words were, "Since he is aphakic, we really should see him right away, come on in."   You all hear her underlying meaning, right?  No doctor's office ever says "come on in" as breezily as if we were old pals.  So, I proceeded to panic until we got there.  What if's played over and over in my head.

We get there, and there was much less fanfare.  We had to wait in the waiting room just like everyone else (never thought THAT would be a relief!)  We saw a technician, who did so many more eye tests than he has ever had- that I was just plain confused.  I finally saw the vision cards that all iMoms talk about!  Tommy could identify the telephone (thank-you Blue's Clues!) but thought that the airplane was a dolphin.  (?)  The bird he called a "ducky" but I was OK with that.  Then she FINALLY gets to the pressures- and they were F.I.N.E. fine.  Breathe.  Ok.  Then the fellow came in with an ER-Doc-in-training.  Tommy was a rock star!  They used lots of different ways to look in his eyes- he let the fellow do it, then let the other doctor test him.  So sad that he lets people poke around his eyes like it is any  normal day.

But- he is fine.  Pressures fine, no infection.  Just plain unlucky.  A week later we are still dealing with copious amounts of boogers from eyes and nose- but no infection.  I'm using antihistamines, but also worry that those will impact the pressure in his eye.  It is a fine balance between long term damage vs long term strengthening of his eye.  It is a fine balance between making him wear the contact and patch for a little bit- and letting him have some comfort.  I'm learning to juggle- and balance- and try to just let go sometimes!

One of the few days of patching time!

Does the worrying ever really stop?

I like to pretend that I'm all zen with this eye thing.  Or, maybe it is that I'm mostly settled with it all if I don't think about it too hard.  I'm still bothered when someone new asks me something stupid, but those questions get fewer as he gets older.  I'm sure the next step is figuring out how to handle kids teasing.  But, if I don't think about it, life is good.

This just makes me laugh and pretty much sums up his personality.

But there are days when the reality of it all comes crashing into my consciousness.  Maybe I'm being too dramatic.  But I got a call to come get him at daycare because he looked like this:


His left eye is the eye with the contact.

Yikes!  What is that.  An allergy?  Is he sick?  I don't know- still don't know.  I take his contact out, we gave him Benadryl and he was fine within 30 minutes.  Tommy is allergic to hummus, my daycare provider had eaten Tahini sauce earlier in the day- we kinda just assumed he had gotten some on him.  No problems.  

Little puffy, but not so bad. 

The next two days he had a fever and was cranky.  Ok, a virus, right?  I'm still quelling this tendency to freak out.  Sunday- fine, no worries.  Phew.

Monday, fine, slight rash.  I send him to daycare.  He's cranky, my daycare provider is wonderful and deals with it.  I pick him up and he's puffy and cranky.  More Benadryl.  More worry.  Don't know.

Tuesday he wakes up looking like this:


Who is this??

 More panic- he can breathe fine (no asthma) so I give him more Benadryl (which, by the way, does NOT make my boy sleep!) and make an appointment with the doctor.   (By the way, his contact is OUT)

At the doctor's office- he looks slightly rashy, but normal.  No puffy eyes.  No swollen face.  AUGH!  I'm not even sure she believed me!  (I did show her photos- she likely thinks I'm crazy).  She says it's probably Strep.  Really?   He also happens to have a double ear infection (oops, he wasn't complaining of that!)  Good mom award for me (not!)  Augmentin here we go.

Today (Wednesday) he is fine.  Slight rash.  No puffiness.  In the back of my mind, I worry.  What if it's his contact?  Is he allergic to it?  What if it's glaucoma (not saying I'm rational here)?  What if it is....??  Who knows what.

I swear I didn't worry this much with my other 3....

Back to normal!  (Last night- lucky kid is getting a break from contact and patching while I calm myself)