Thursday, December 11, 2008
What a day...
This morning Emma woke up with a red and swollen eye. She couldn't even open it for the gunk. I'd noticed it was a little gunky yesterday, but didn't think much of it. I gave her a warm compress for the eye and she was soon able to open it. So I'm thinking pink eye, right? I've never had it, or seen it, and neither has M. I do know that it's highly contagious so we probably shouldn't be sending her to school. I called the medical center and they squeezed me in at 10:15 a.m. Emma went to work with M until I picked her up for her appointment.

Now, my Emma is a BIG worrier. She can get so worked up about something beforehand that it will drive you nuts. She was afraid of the doctor's appointment. We tried to assure her that they wouldn't hurt her. She was dubious.

The appointment went fine. They didn't hurt her and she showed real confidence in talking with the doctor. Unfortunately he's the same doctor who can never, ever, ever give you a straight answer or diagnosis. It could be pink eye, or a bacterial inflammation, or this, or that. He never would say for sure it was pink eye. He was doubtful because it's only in one eye and she showed some symptoms of an allergic reaction. Great, no answer, as usual. He did give us drops for her eyes which we're supposed to put in four times a day for five days, or until the problem disappears.

Now we come to the hard part. She freaks out about the eye drops. She can't hold her eye open for it so it takes two of us, literally prying her eye open to get it in. Then she immediately starts bawling which probably washes all the eyedrop out. This last time, before bed, she got hysterical. M and I are both mean. "It HURTS!!!," she shrieked at us. She cursed us forty different (four year-old) ways, even hit me with her pillow. Then she looks at the dropper in my hand and tells me, "Get that thing out of here." Oy, such a drama queen. I felt like enough of a dog that I didn't correct her much.

I'll be praying she wakes up with a perfect looking eye tomorrow. Meanwhile, M plans to be the one to take care of her during the workday.
Written at 9:05 PM by Highlandgal.
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