Thursday, November 12, 2009

News Flash...eye drops sting ;)

With three kids in the house I found myself at the pediatrician no less than six times in three weeks. There was the typical four month check up, a speech referral, and Big E getting croup (It happens multiple times a year). Then there were the extras. The steroids weakened the immune system letting a bad ear ache take hold. I'm positive it was the steroids because this is the first time in five 1/2 years that a single one of my three kids has had an ear ache. A miracle I know. Then there was a sever cough, more croup, the flu, and my personal favorite Peach got some sort of pink eye conjunctivitis. I'd heard that breast milk could clear it up so for two days I squrited her in the eye when we'd nurse. Maybe it works for some kids, but for Peach it just got worse. Her under eyelids got so swollen it looked like she'd been punched in the face. I went in and the doctor gave me drops the clear it up. They were a nightmare. For a week I'd have to hold her eye open as she wiggled and screamed, mad beyond belief. I'd have to nurse her immediately after to calm her down or we'd have a screaming child for hours. Then a week into treatment I lost the drops. I put them down after nursing her and couldn't find them anywhere. It should have been fine, the infection should have been gone, but it wasn't. The next day her eyes were puffed up and her last gunked up. I called the doctor and took her back in. He said, lets try a gel to see if that will stay better, and proscribed Erythromycin in a gel form, the same stuff they put in babies eyes when they are born. I was worried beyond belief. If putting drops in her eyes caused a near freak out, what would gel do. The first night I had Dr. J help me. We pulled her eyelids open with her wiggling and squirming and put a huge line of gel on both her eyes. Nothing happened. She blinked a few times and then gave us a huge smile. This continued every time we had to put the gel in. I felt like an idiot! The kid wasn't screaming because I was putting stuff in her eyes, she was screaming because the Garamycin burned. Good job mom!

1 comment:

kami said...

ah! my eyes were watering as i read that. glad it's better! (that's dumb the breastmilk didn't work...i have heard that it works too!)