Friday, October 29, 2010

Baby Blues

A lot of people assume that I'm the one that has the blue eyes that all three kids have. Believe it or not, my eyes aren't blue but are more of a grey-ish greenish hazel color. Brian is the one with blue eyes and all our kids have 'em.

Jamison's are by far the most blue out of them (so far) and up until about 6 months ago, he had beautiful eyes. And then he started to get random bumps on his eyelids. I ignored these since I was in my third trimester for Patrick and as long as Jamie wasn't in any pain, what were a few bumps?

And then another bump developed on the bottom lid of the other eye. I was starting to get suspicious but I was also starting contractions, so I ignored the bumps.

I should point out right here that Jamison was not in any pain and the bumps did not interfere with his vision. Most people didn't even see them until recently when they appeared to get larger with the change in seasons.

At Patrick's one week doctor appointment, big brother came with us. I think it is incredibly rude to try to combine two kids in one doctor visit. Doctor's have a tight schedule and do deserve a co-pay (I hate to admit it) for every appointment that they have. Trying to squeeze two kids in one appointment is just not polite. But I was dealing with our new addition, not sleeping more than 3 hours at a time, and those bumps were looking weird. So I did what I am against - I casually asked our pediatrician to look at his eyes and tell me what's going on.

She took a look and gave me the number of a pediatric optometrist. After that exciting visit where Jamison's eyes were dilated (fun to watch a three year old try to walk with eyes dilated) and poked and prodded it was determined that he had three chalazions. Chalazions are clogged eyelash ducts. Usually they go away with hot compresses but Jamison WAS NOT A FAN IN ANY WAY of warm compresses. Chalazions are common in those with fair skin (an understatement for my kids) and even if these go away, it's possible that they will happen in other eyelash ducts. GREAT.

So the only option to get rid of them is surgery. Surgery on clogged eyelash ducts. There are so many surgeries that make sense to me - appendectomy, open heart, and gallbladder to name a few. But really? Surgery on clogged eyelash ducts? Apparently yes.

At yesteday's pre-op the doctor noticed that another duct was clogged and a possible fifth. Awesome. He suggested that we give Jamie a teaspoon of flax seed oil everyday to try to prevent the clogs but that the oil isn't foolproof. Awesome times two. It is entirely possible that these clogs can continually happen and he will need multiple surgeries whenever they do happen. The clogs are not dangerous, they are just superficial, but if they are not drained then they can solidify and become hard, fiberous bumps that are there forever. My prayers have been that these are just random clogs and that the flax seed oil will prevent any future ones.

Jamie's surgery is scheduled for Monday, November 1 at 10:50am. Please keep him in your prayers. The surgery itself is not dangerous; the anesthesia is the biggest danger. But if you could pray that the anesthesiologist doesn't mess up the dosage in any way, that would be a big help.



1 comment:

Ashley said...

Have it written down to remind myself to pray for Jamison.:)