Friday, March 9, 2007

Goopy eye

Wren has a goopy right eye. It is shiny and runny with a yellowish discharge and it is kind of red above it. He is going to the pediatrician tomorrow.

Edited to say:
Wren now has a low fever and his eye is quite swollen and very pussy. He is sad and alternates between crying, eating and sleeping.

Our pediatrician said to take him to the ER if he gets a fever over 103-4 or if a redness spreads to his face (the old cellulitis scare, I guess). I doubt it will. He is very miserable though and wants to be carried all the time.

She also recommended warm compresses on his eye. I think my naturopath once mentioned squirting breastmilk into his eye. It is not easy to aim!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

First of all, let me apologize for my comment a few days ago. I was in a mood. I usually don't let myself communicate with others on THOSE days.

Second, you can express fresh breastmilk onto a clean cloth or piece of gauze and then apply it to his eye. Alternately, you can express into a small container and then use a clean eye dropper to drip breastmilk into his eye.

Hope he feels better soon.

--
Tracy

tamusana said...

hey Shan,

This response is not directly related to goopy eyes.... I just didn't know whether you go back and read comments left on earlier postings, and I'm only now reading a bunch of them. Thought I'd only missed a day or two, but it seems almost a week has gone by (in a blur).

While I'm not dealing with the awesome challenges of newborn-related sleep deprivation, I can definitely empathise right now - with the perpetual tiredness; the incredibly short fuses - that invariably get taken out on Luca and Kenji, to my immediate regret; the delicate emotional states resulting from lack of sleep (in my case compounded by PMS), e.g., leaving me weeping while tucking the boys into bed, overwhelmed with the beauty and sadness of Peter, Paul and Mary singing Blowin' in the Wind [it is a beautiful and sad song, but I don't usually cry through it]; etc.

My woeful state is the product of preparing for our move (Garrett has been in Geneva for a month already), a stressful period in itself, of course, made more insane by having Luca and Kenji home sick with strep and bronchitis for 10 days.... (and now I have some of it too.) They finally returned to school yesterday, just in time for our 2-day move (we've had stuff stored at Jon-Marc's house and at my parents'). I had about 2-3 hours this morning after the boys had gone to school, and before the movers arrived, to get things ready for packing. I got more done in these 3 hours than I'd accomplished over the past 3 weeks. Even though I'd barely slept last night, I had such a productivity-related adrenalin rush, I felt practically elated.

So, point is: don't get down on yourself about your bad moods and how awful you are being to everyone else. You're under incredible duress and are merely surviving as any once-sane person would -- and you don't even have the luxury of drowning your sorrows in chocolate, poor sod. You should feel proud that you've managed to nurture a child who can take a somewhat objective view on your behaviour, and come up with a brilliant scheme to help you cope!! To me that's the sign of a very healthy household.

We leave for Geneva on Saturday, provided we're all healthy enough. I still owe you updates on my family.... in due course. I also have some pics I think you'll really like... again, in due course ;-)

Oh - one more thing: if you're ever in Baltimore, you MUST go and see the American Visionary Art Museum. Spectacular outsider art, truly mindblowing. It's one of my favourite museums anywhere.

love
Tam

Shannon said...

Tracy, thanks! I have been doing that now and it is working well.

I didn't find any of your comments offensive so please - no need to apologize.

Whatever it was I must have thought it reasonable.

- S