More Eye Trouble

Poor Nicole. Monday I got a call from the school nurse that she was having trouble with her eye. Again. No one could remember her doing anything to it. (Well, not since February when Daddy accidentally scratched her cornea. Again.) 

But, sure enough. It was red and puffy and so I took her to the doctor where he pulled out the trusty eye exam tray. We should have one of these engraved with her name.

Diagnosis: Viral conjunctivitis. No injury issue. Just keep her out of school for a couple of days. We decided to go to Target to spend the rest of Aunt Angela's and Aunt Dusty's birthday gift card. We found plenty of stuff to keep her busy while out of school. 

But, when it was time to send her back to school, I didn't think it looked any better. In fact, it seemed to look worse. So we went back to the doctor. Again. This time he saw something different. Something that scared me. He said it looked like she might have a more serious virus. One that could impair her vision. So, with visions of a 7-year-old with a white cane and ... well, she'd finally get that dog she wanted, only it'd be a seeing eye dog ... we were sent immediately to the ophthalmologist.  

 Turns out she didn't have a virus at all! It was the cornea injury! Again. The cornea is not healing correctly and this is why it keeps flaring up at random times. Monday it was just beginning to reappear but didn't actually show a scratch. When we went back it was actually getting worse, making it look as if it could be a progressing virus.

The girls thought they were so cool in the sunglasses the receptionist gave them. The sunglasses they didn't need because no one's eyes were actually dilated. But, hey, they were fun. And they wore them inside the grocery store when we went to get her prescription. Just me and my little Stevie Wonders.

So, anyway. After a couple of days of ointment she was excited to announce, "Mommy, look, my eye is white again!" We go back to the ophthalmologist next week to start a long-term drop treatment to help the cornea heal right ... hopefully once and for all!!

On a side note, I was a pretty proud mom to be told by the pediatrician's office and the ophthalmologist's office that my kids were some of the most well-behaved they've seen. (99th percentile to be specific.) The doctor had to take something out of Nicole's eye and he commented how brave she was. She just said, "Yeah, I just held onto the bars real tight."  Then Allyson started putting in her two cents and he just laughed, looked at me and said, "Your kids are really cute." I agreed.