Blue Eyes

Look at those pretty blue eyes!  I love those eyes, but today, they caused me some major heartache and pain.

Early this morning I received a phone call from Luke’s school nurse. She informed me that she felt certain Luke had pinkeye and I needed to come and get him. My heart sank. Not just that he was “sick”, but pinkeye. I am the wrong person to handle this sort of thing as I do not handle matters of the eye well.

I picked him up hoping and praying that the nurse was wrong. However, I took one look at him and thought she was probably right.

After the doctor confirmed it was pinkeye I started to think, “Why me? Why must I deal with this boy who has pinkeye? Why not his Dad?” I normally have no problems dealing with a sick child, but here is the deal, I HATE eyedrops. In fact, I refuse to use them. I am SCARED of them. I also do not like dealing with the eye. I am of NO assistance if someone has something in their eye and needs help getting it out.

The last time I recall needing them was when Luke was two. And my dear husband had me pinned down to the bed trying to get them in my eye. The entire episode did not go well and I’ve had nothing to do with eye drops since!

Until today.

Ugh.

We went to the pharmacy and picked them up and I just could not figure out how we were going to do this. How was I, a woman who is afraid of drops, going to convince my six year old son that these drops were his friend?

I had him lay on his bed and then the nightmare began. He started to scream. Yes, scream. And I had not even gotten the bottle near his eye. I started to tell him that it was not a big deal. They would not hurt, but would help. I obviously was not selling this story well as his mass hysteria only escalated. Tears galore from this kiddo. His face turned bright red and his eye was getting more and more agitated.

Then, what I can only call a miracle from God happened. My BF called. She was quick to assess from the tone of my voice that all was not well within the Stewart home. I explained the problem and she gave me advice on putting in the drops. Have him close his eye, put the drops in the corner and then get him to blink. Sounds good to me….sort of. I mean, good for Luke. I however do not plan on doing this to myself, but I would try it out on him.

And because the apple does not fall far from the tree, Luke was not taking kindly to this method. The waterworks continued. I have pinned this child down to get medicine down his throat. I have held him down to get ear drops in his ears. But, if a person does not want eye drops, I am thinking you cannot make them go in. The power of crying huge crocodile tears will prevent you from getting drops in the eye!

I was almost in tears. Over an HOUR later, I squirted some drops on his eye and prayed that some went in through the tears. Needless to say, my child was not happy with me. In fact, he was downright upset. Angry. Mad. And to tell you the truth, I did not really blame him. I was over it too.

So, for the next two hours we discussed how round two of eye drops would be different. I said all the right things to him, but I knew in my heart of hearts that I hate eye drops and I would be acting just like him if it was me with the nasty eye. The irony of this entire thing was almost just too much for me.

However, UNLIKE his mother, my Luke got a hold of his fear. Faced it head on and laid on that bed like a champ for round two of drops. He closed his eyes and said, “tell me when to open momma!” I put the drops in the corner of his eye, prayed, and told him to open. And he did, like a pro. He blinked several times and the drops went right in. Hallelujah!!

And he did just as perfect a few hours later when we did them again.

I am so proud of him!

One day, when my Luke is much older, maybe I will tell him of this ridiculous and crazy day of when his mother, who is afraid of everything related to the eye, had to get drops in his eyes. How inside, I was just crumbling, but trying to look brave for him on the outside. Maybe we will have a laugh out of it.

On the up side, my dear sweet husband came home with the Jason Aldean cd for me.  That has nothing to do with this post....but, was a good end to the drama of the day.