The Eyes Have It

Saturday morning I was sitting on the couch thinking "what to do, what to do?" After all, we had a three-day weekend coming up, and I didn't really want to just sit around. We don't celebrate Valentine's Day, so we had lots of time.

All of a sudden we heard screaming. Brandon screaming. From a few houses away, but getting louder and louder as he ran up the hill. Now, Brandon screams loudly and hysterically at any injury he gets - big or little - so we never know what to expect. Usually it's something minor. But when he burst in the door crying red tears, we knew something was wrong. When we also saw our J, our neighbor and Brandon's best friend, and his dad right behind them, we knew something was really wrong. As it turns out, Brandon's friend J had accidentally hit him in the eye with a stick. In the eye. Not just on the outside of his eye, but also on the sclera (the white part). Brandon's big red tears were tears mixed with blood.

Needless to say, there was much screaming and crying for a while. We checked the eye, but didn't see any foreign debris. It was cut, though, so we decided that we should take Brandon to Urgent Care. Brian had just come back from running, and I hadn't showered. Seeing that this wasn't life threatening, the bleeding had stopped, and that Brandon had calmed down after putting a cold washcloth up to eye, we gave the kids a snack, put on a video, and did a quick turn-around showers. We were out of the house in less than half-an-hour.

I'm not exactly sure why we hurried, as we spent the next three hours in the Urgent Care office. Ironically, nothing there seemed urgent. There were a few people ahead of us, and no one came in after us, but still we waited. And waited. And waiting. Oh my gosh, it was boring! Facilities in Colorado are nicer that the ones we had in California. They're newer, with exposed brick and soothing colors. But that only goes so far when you are sitting under fluorescent lighting with two young children. We had rushed, so we had no toys or games, and the only magazines I could find involved working on a car or skiing in Colorado. Seriously boring. I'm going to donate some magazines there so other families aren't bored out of their minds! One of the funniest moments was when Caitlin wandered through one set of automatic doors into a breezeway. The automatic double doors to the outside wouldn't open, and she couldn't quite figure out how to get back into the waiting room. It was a amusing since she didn't panic. I was more worried that she'd start playing with the de-icing pellets, but she never did that, either.

An hour into our wait, Brandon finally got back to see the nurse. We spend a whole 5 minutes in the nurses cubical doing administrative work, and then were sent back to the waiting room for another hour and half. By now it's almost 1:00, and the kids are getting hungry. Finally, around 2:30, Brandon and I are called back to the office rooms. Most patients are in curtain-walled areas, but (woo hoo!) we got to be in the eye-exam room. Brandon did an eye exam, and we waiting another 45 minutes for the doctor to come in. Amazing, Brandon was not whining for lunch, and managed to wait patiently. I'll bet the words "patience" and "patiently" were thought up by someone, somewhere who was a patient waiting for a doctor. Finally, at 3:05, we got to leave the Urgent Care.

So - the diagnosis. The doctor dyed Brandon's eye to look at the abrasion. He has scratches on his sclera and cornea. Nothing on the pupil, though, so no issues with his vision. The scratches are wide and have made divots, but aren't deep, so they should heal just fine. We got a prescription for antibiotic eye drops, and need to do a follow-up visit on Monday. On top of it all, Caitlin was diagnosed with pink-eye on Friday, so we have to keep the two of them apart for several days, and make sure they don't share any towels or linens. Pink-eye would not be good for Brandon's eye at this point! No bathing together, either, to keep the infection from spreading.
At 3:15 we finally sat down to get lunch. I've never been so excited to see Pad Thai in my life! We were so exhausted - and all from doing nothing but sitting and waiting. I am glad that Brandon's eye is not worse. I now have to do eye drops for both kids for the next 5 days, without mixing them up or cross-contamination. *Sigh*. And I have many more loads of laundry to keep the pink-eye from spreading.

We talked to Brandon a lot about sticks. He loves sticks. Always has. I don't want to forbid them, but he's never been allowed to play with them around other kids. He keeps his "collection" in the garage. I'm sad that the advice J's dad gave to him was "You have to be careful when you play with sticks." Even Brian was annoyed at that. The advice should have been "Don't play with sticks around other kids!" I realize they're boys. Accidents happen. But why is it my kid who comes home crying all the time? Our different parenting skills leave a lot to be desired. No sticks right now. At least for a while. I'm hoping that last night's snowfall will help quell the desire to play with sticks, since the sticks are not visible. Although, being Colorado means that it will all be melted by the end of the day!