Monday, January 28, 2013

Pink-alicious Eyes

 Warning: If you don't want to see pictures of pink eye, don't scroll down!

The week we left Utah was a momentous week in the Wheat household, our first battle with pink eye. Julia and Micah both fell victim to it, twice. They are both better now, but we are still waiting and hoping to see if Robert and I come out of it untouched since it can have up to a two week incubation period.

The Wednesday before we were suppose to come home from Christmas break Julia woke up with a little goop in her eyes. I cleaned her up and she was mostly fine the rest of the day. In the afternoon she got some more goop and was feeling tired so she took a nap, unusual for her. The next day she couldn't open her eyes when she woke up because of the goop. Not knowing what was wrong with her and since we were away from home we wanted to wait a little and see if she would get better on her own or could wait until we got back home to see a doctor.

That day her eyes just got worse and worse and by that evening it was clear we would have to take her into a clinic in Park City somewhere. Oddly for us though, she didn't really feel bad. I think her eyes were bugging her a little, but I think she looked much worse than she felt.

So first thing Friday morning she got to visit the IHC clinic in Park City with Robert and watch movies until she got called. Luckily we got her in before the slopes opened because Robert said by the time they left the waiting room was full of skiers. Pink eye, they told us, confirming what we had guessed since looking up the symptoms the night before.

Pink eye is very contagious so Dad Wheat and I tried to sterilize as much of the cabin as we could think of that Julia had touched. Luckily the day before she mostly sat upstairs and played with a few toys and watched movies. But who knows who touched what or who in the day before we could sterilize everything.

After their appointment Micah and I met Robert and Julia down the hill from the cabin and headed over to my parent's where we would stay the night before heading home. I told Julia she had to stay in the "playroom" (their front room) and put away some of the toys so it would be more manageable to clean once she was done playing there. A few minutes later she came streaking out of the front room and to my germaphobic eyes it seemed like she was touching everything she could. I was keeping a mental note of everything I needed to go back and sanitize, and in the coming days I felt like I needed to follow them around with a can of Lysol  We teased Julia that she must really like pink to get pink eye. That's even more pink than Pinkalicious!

Julia was looking much better the next morning and much much better by that evening. We spent the entire day in the car driving home, so it was pretty easy to keep her contained and know what we would have to sterilize later.

The next morning Micah woke up with a goopy eye so he couldn't open one eye. I think he was a little confused about what was going on, but he was happy the entire day. In fact, Julia and Micah were both pretty happy through it all.  We gave Micah some medicine right away, so his eyes never got too bad.

After they were all better we gave them medicine for a couple more days like we were suppose to, then stopped. Two days later the pink eye was back for both of them. So we were back to restricting what they could touch (this time by putting up baby gates and barriers to block them from certain rooms) following them around with Lysol, and washing lots of clothes and blankets.

Around the same time they were also starting to get cold or flu symptoms, so a few days later, after the pinkeye had cleared up again, we took Micah into the doctor because he seemed to be having a tougher time getting over it. We found out it was RSV, but luckily Micah was doing well enough that he could just get over it on his own. We are still trying to shake the last of the symptoms, a lingering cough. And that pretty much sums up our January 2013.           

Here are the pictures:                                                         


 Friday night at my parents house. Probably about six hours after starting her antibiotic eye drops. Actually already a little better than earlier in the day and most of the goop is cleaned off, but the worse of the pictures.

  
Saturday night on the drive home. 30ish hours post medicine. Much better. Eyes were mostly clear, just some irritation and puffiness around her eyes, probably from rubbing her eyes.
Micah wakes up with goopy eyes on Sunday morning.
Sunday morning Julia looks almost normal. 48 hours after first getting her medicine.
 Someone forgot to tell Micah he was sick. 
Looking much better on Monday.

Let's see those eyes together one last time. Poor Julia!


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