After our wonderful morning together, I dropped Zoe off, wrote a blog post, did some laundry and headed to work. I got to work just as an email arrived from Chris. Zoe was being sent home from day care because it appears she has pink eye. Ugh. Chris took her to the eye clinic (because our regular doctor’s office was too busy to see her today), and the doctor confirmed that it was pink eye. Luckily there doesn’t seem to be any concern due to her recent eye surgery (her eyes are pretty healed up at this point). Unfortunately, it means we have to do eye ointment again. When we did eye ointment after her surgery, Zoe would scream and cry and hide her face in our shoulders every time we tried to give it to her. I have no reason to expect that it’ll go better a mere 2 weeks later.
things I learned from Zoe’s surgery August 26, 2008
Zoe post-surgery. Her eyes are quite blood shot, but they are noticeably straighter.
- My little girl is a hard-core trooper. If I had just gone through surgery, I would have been on the couch demading that Chris bring me grapes and bon-bons. Zoe was up and running around and laughing and playing that afternoon. And demanding grapes. She is my daughter after all.
- People rock. The internet facilitates the rocking. Seriously, I was touched by all the warm wishes and thoughts from old friends, new friends, and friend I’d never met. I had often wondered if it helped to leave notes on someone’s blog wishing them well, especially if I’d never met the person. Well, it helped me. I loved reading everyone’s messages, and even made one last check right before leaving for the hospital to steel myself for the upcoming events.
- I am so glad that Chris was my partner in this. I would not have wanted to go this alone, and there’s no one I’d rather have gone through this with. He went with Zoe to be put under because he knew how hard it would be for me to do it, and he knew that he would be a comfort to Zoe.
- Holding your screaming daughter as she is just starting to come out of anesthesia, while she cries bloody tears and tries to rip out her IV is definitely a low in my short time as a parent. I am enormously thankful that it only lasted 20 minutes (though it felt like 20 times that long), and once she really woke up, she downed 3 glasses of juice and asked for crackers.
surgery restrictions August 7, 2008
We just got the packet from Zoe’s ophthalmologist’s office with “Information you need to know about your surgery.” Which isn’t too helpful since Zoe isn’t doing much reading yet. I blame her farsightedness - it makes it difficult for her to focus on the fine print. That and the fact that she isn’t 2 yet, and can’t read.
The bad news is that we have to show up to the eye institute where the procedure will be done at 5:30 AM. Ugh. The good news about that is that the surgery is early in the morning so that Zoe will be asleep for most of the eating restrictions. She is allowed clear liquids, which includes jello, up to 3 hours before surgery, but that means she would have to have it before 4:30 AM, and I’m not about to wake up that early just for a jello snack.
The toughest to follow will probably be the post-surgery restrictions. Zoe will have to wait 24 hours after the procedure before she can:
- drive a car
- operate power tools
- drink alcohol
- make important decisions
- sign her name
damn! I was really hoping she’d be able to drive me home so that I could take a valium during her surgery.
Of ears and drums June 17, 2008
On Sunday, we noticed that Zoe had some discharge in her left ear. We cleaned it off and kept watching it, but it looked mostly like thin ear wax, so we decided to take a wait and see approach, she didn’t have a fever, wasn’t pulling on her ear, and didn’t have any blood in the discharge (all indicators of ear infections). So Monday she went to daycare, and I took my birthday off and had a grand old time. Last night she still had some drainage, so we were getting concerned. I talked to my parents on the phone last night, and we looked up information on ear infections (a family that researches together, um, stays informed together?). We talked about the fact that antibiotics are prescribed less often now, mostly to avoid the propagation of super-antibiotic-resistant drugs, but also because they don’t seem to make the infections clear up much more quickly.
So there I was, feeling all superior about how I wouldn’t be one of those moms to demand antibiotics when I know they won’t really add much. In fact, I thought to myself, maybe if the doctor offered to prescribe them, I would politely refuse, letting her know that I didn’t want to contribute to the antibiotic resistance problem (within reason, of course, if there was a serious need for antibiotics, I wouldn’t refuse them). We got an early appointment this morning with a doctor I had not seen before, as Zoe’s pediatrician is on vacation. She was very nice, listened to what I said, took a look in Zoe’s ear and said, “Ah-hah! She has a perforated ear drum. It looks just like a little hole in a piece of cellophane.” Apparently, she’d had an ear infection that got bad enough that it ruptured the ear drum. It is apparently not as bad as it sounds, which is good, because it sounds pretty horrible, and her ear isn’t infected anymore. As the doctor said, it had been infected, now it’s resolved. But holy mama-guilt batman! How could I not know that she had an ear infection? I know, the doctor said it’s common for some kids to get infections and not show it, and apparently both my brother and Chris’s sister would get ear infections with no symptoms. But still. What happened to motherly instinct?
Oh, and the antibiotics? Despite the fact that her ear isn’t infected anymore, as soon as the doctor mentioned she’d like to prescribe them to keep the ear drum from getting infected as it heals, I was all over it. Bring them on. Anything to protect my baby. Even though intellectually I know that they won’t help it heal faster, I want them because it makes me feel like I’m doing something to help. The exact argument that I was scoffing at the night before. So much for being all superior. I should know better by now.
Updates February 10, 2008
Zoe went to the ophthalmologist (I got it right on the first try, this time!) on Friday for another check up. She’s kind of a star at the office there. The receptionists all coo over her and greet her excitedly, and the other patients in the waiting room flirt along with her. The ophthalmologist thought her eyes looked a lot better with the new prescription, but she’s still not always focusing with both eyes. So we’re going to wait for a few months and see if things get better on their own. Apparently being sick with something like pinkeye can affect how you’re focusing on things.
Speaking of pinkeye, the ophthalmologist verified that Zoe’s pinkeye is totally gone now, which is pretty darn awesome.
Very good friends just had a baby girl on Thursday. I’m thrilled for them. Welcome little girl, I know you’ll be in very good hands. It’s making me want to go out and buy so many little things for a little baby. Which would be against the spirit of my trying not to acquire stuff, although, I wouldn’t keep it, so maybe it’s ok…
Speaking of my attempts to not acquire things. I’ve done well in the not buying things arena, but we still have managed to acquire a bit. We bought diapers and toilet paper and food, which I can’t see really going without. At the eye doctor’s, the receptionist gave Zoe a little stuffed penguin for being so well-behaved. Then we got a package from my parents with a couple of really cute outfits for Zoe, and the best acquisition I can think of: a growth chart with rock hammers for scale!
help? February 1, 2008
How on earth am I supposed to get eye drops into Z’s eye without an extra 3 or 4 hands? My (not quite tragic, but definitely misplaced) optimism that she would be ok with eye drops since she’s used to us doing things around her eyes, seems to not be the case.
Edited to add: After a quick consultation with Dr. Google, I got the advice from multiple sites to not try to put the drops in her open eye, but rather have her close her eye tights (well that’s not hard, she does that as soon as she sees the eye drops) and put the drop in the inside corner of her eye (ok) and when she opens her eye the drops will “painlessly drip into her eye.” I’m not as sure about the last part since it seems like the drops ran down her face. But it’s not like I was going to get them in any other way.
Eye stories January 31, 2008
Zoe has pink eye. She was sent home from daycare today, and a trip to the doctor with dad confirmed it. She doesn’t seem bothered by it, but it’s kind of nasty. I’m most worried about trying to get eye drops in her by myself tomorrow.
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The girl is really getting used to her glasses. So much so that in the mornings, if I’m not on the ball, she’ll grab my hand and walk me over to the table with her glasses holder and point at them until I get the hint.
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Perhaps not wanting to be outdone by her blog sister’s daring feat, Zoe decided to climb up all by herself on a swing at daycare. She didn’t get a chance to jump off because it tipped and she fell on her glasses. She’s got a cut under her right eye that follows the curve of the bottom of her frames. We expected a black eye, but somehow she escaped that.
Update: If you’re looking for more information on babies, toddlers and young children with glasses, check out my other blog, Little Four Eyes.
Just when I’d gotten used to them January 14, 2008
Zoe had a check up with the ophthalmologist (by the time we’re through with this, if nothing else, I’ll be able to spell that word right on the first try) on Friday. She agreed with us that Zoe’s eyes looked much better with the glasses, but thought that her left eye was turning in just a little bit - something that I had noticed recently.
So we’re increasing the prescription on the left eye (though it’s still not quite as high as the right eye). This was figured out by the doctor looking at Zoe’s eyes and holding up a lens to her eye and looking a little more. The ophthalmologist (dang it!) said she knew that it felt like we were just trying random things with no real science behind it - and it did feel that way, but as I told her, after seeing how much good the glasses did on the first try, I’m a believer. I’m glad that the ophthalmologist (whoo hoo! no red underline that time!) is being aggressive in getting her eyes right, but getting the lens changed means that the glasses had to be sent in to the lab, so Zoe’s going without glasses for the week. She seems a little more fatigued than normal without her glasses, and now that I’m used to the glasses, she just doesn’t quite look right anymore. Funny, since only a couple of weeks ago I wasn’t sure I liked how she looked with them, and now it’s strange to see her without them.
Update: If you’re looking for more information on babies, toddlers and young children with glasses, check out my other blog, Little Four Eyes.
glasses day two December 27, 2007
Well I think I’m getting used to the glasses, as is Zoe. She had a couple of nice long stretches with her glasses on and didn’t seem to mind them. And she had a pretty exciting day to go along with it, visiting work with me, then lunch with Grandma and Aunt Liz, and then visiting friends at the BLB (local bar/restaurant/bowling alley/theater, you know, the normal type of place). I learned that when Zoe’s hair is messed up, she looks quite Harry Potteresque.
I’ve gotten a bunch of questions about how they fit glasses to babies. As I understand it, the ophthalmologist measured the curvature of the back of her lens when she dilated Zoe’s eyes at the eye appointment. I understand the question - I never knew how they did that either. But getting that question a bunch of time hasn’t alleviated my fear that people will focus on her glasses and not on Zoe.
Otherwise, I think I’m starting to get a handle on my ambivalence about the glasses. It’s a combination of lots of things, namely:
- She looks like a kid when she wears the glasses. I’m used to her looking older as she grows up, but this was a much more sudden change.
- I’m realizing that I now have to keep track not only of my own glasses, but hers as well. Especially as she’s not used to leaving them on yet and taking them off randomly throughout the day.
- The fear that the glasses won’t work, and if they don’t it’s on to surgery - though Chris and I both agree that she doesn’t look nearly as cross eyed when she’s wearing the glasses.
- It’s kind of a visible, tangible reminder that she’s not perfect, or at least, that she doesn’t have perfect eyesight.
- The aforementioned worry that when people meet her, they’ll focus on the glasses and never really see her.
I guess put that way, it doesn’t seem so bad. I’m optimistic that 3 won’t be an issue, and I should get over 1 and 4 pretty quickly. The second one will be a pain, but I have managed to not lose my own glasses in a long time, so I can probably handle it. So how do I help to make sure that Zoe doesn’t become “the toddler with glasses.” Probably by not worrying so much about it, huh?
Update: If you’re looking for more information on babies, toddlers and young children with glasses, check out my other blog, Little Four Eyes.
Four eyes are better than two December 26, 2007
at least that’s the theory. The ophthalmologist didn’t think the patch was making any difference (and we agreed), so we’re trying glasses. The idea is that since Zoe is far-sighted, she crosses her eyes when trying to focus. The glasses came today, and so far it seems to be going all right. She did great at the glasses shop - no crying, mostly just looking around really intently, like all of a sudden she was seeing things differently. Which is what we’re hoping for. At home, she started trying to take them off and put them back on, and waving them around. We’ll keep trying each day and hope that she’s used to them by Monday when she’s back at daycare.
I’m trying really hard to stay positive about all of this. It helps that there are a lot of cute choices for glasses and that they can make the lenses thin so you don’t get the super magnified eye distortion. I feel shallow for being caught up in Zoe’s appearance in the glasses - especially since I wear glasses and even enjoy shopping for them - so I’m not entirely sure what my problem is. Maybe I’m worried that everyone will focus on the glasses rather than on her, I just don’t know. And part of it (and this is the terribly embarrassing shallow part) is that I had set aside flex money to splurge on a new pair of glasses for myself, and her glasses ate up 2/3 of that money. Of course, if it corrects the crossed eyes and keeps her from needing surgery (the next step if glasses don’t work), then I’m all for it. Maybe once she’s bigger we can shop for frames together.
Added: Gah, what’s wrong with me? I just keep looking at all the pictures we took today of her in her glasses (most of which only show her side or top of her head - she just doesn’t hold still or pose for pictures). It’s like I need to keep looking at them to convince myself that it’s her. Ridiculous. She’s still the same girl. Just with a slightly more bookish air to her.
Update: If you’re looking for more information on babies, toddlers and young children with glasses, check out my other blog, Little Four Eyes.
