Wednesday, March 20, 2019

The sickness. AGAIN.

If you know us in real life you'll know I've been trying to figure out what's wrong with Lucy for years. Yeah, I said years. Since she was six or seventh months old when she got her first cold, she's had this never ending runny nose and goopy eye. Sometimes it clears up for one to three days but it always comes back and her one eye is never not swollen a little. Her face is really chapped and honestly I can't tell if it's eczema or just dry from wiping her nose all of the time. 

It honestly could be either. 

Last week though it was just really the worst. 
It started with a small runny nose. Nothing too crazy, just an annoying drip periodically, but her eye was really swollen.  
 Another day she went to the ophthalmologist because her doctor thought maybe her eye issues (swollen, goopy eye) was from a blocked duct. It turns out he wasn't actually sure. He referred us to Ear, Nose and Throat (which we already had a referral for April 2) and told us if they couldn't help us, come back, and the only way to check about this specific duct was surgery, but in the mean time he gave us these drops to use 4 times a day for 4 weeks. 

Which sounds grand. 
 So we started that and honestly, her eye seems MORE swollen to me. 
 I will say though, she's s pretty lovable kid so she really just wants cuddles. She will let us wash her face and she really likes a warm washcloth on her eye and it's really the only way to get all the gunk off her eyelashes otherwise they harden and it hurts. 
 Then she woke up with a LOT of boogers. Enough where I had to wash her entire face first thing because they were literally all over her face and in her hair. 

Combine this with Penelope having blow out poops in her pull up and trying to handle it herself some time in the night. I woke up to poop EVERYWHERE in my bathroom, the hallway, her room, it was a SCENE. I stepped in it carrying Lucy to the bathroom because she stinks and her eyes are basically crusted shut. 

Actually, my entire week was like this every morning and it wasn't great. I went to bed completely exhausted every day last week. 

Anyways. 
 So Lucy really wasn't feeling well and she had a LOT of boogers and she had this really low fever all week. On Friday I had Matt take her to Urgent Care while I stayed home with the other three because I feel like at this point, it's got to be a sinus infection. Her cheek hurt, she said her teeth hurt (all on the side with the swollen eye) and she's miserable. 

The doctor there said there really isn't a test for that but he's going to give us an antibiotic because whatever she has will probably be knocked out by it. Which, alright. I don't think Lucy has ever been on an antibiotic but she HATES taking any kind of medicine and having to hold her down 4 times a day for one eye drop is traumatic for us all, so let's try to force an antibiotic down her throat. 

Yeah. No problem. 
 On Saturday she woke up like this and it scared the crap out of me when I rolled over and saw this. I took her to the bathroom and her one eye is totally shut, she's got a LOT of dried blood and boogers on her face and she's kind of whimpering. Like Jesus- I've never had a kid with a bloody nose. The only time I've ever had that was in tenth grade when I broke my nose. 

So I get her all cleaned up, we get some fresh clothes on and once I got her eye washed really well she could open it a little. So I go get her beloved blanket and penguin off her bed. 
 And see that she actually bled a lot because it's soaked through her pillow, all over the sheets and her big blanket. So now I'm washing bedding. 

My mom runs out to get me a small humidifier for their room because I'm thinking maybe it's just dry in there? I don't actually know but it's worth a try and probably good to have anyways. 

On day 4 or 5 of her antibiotic I'm seeing a little improvement. She doesn't have the massive amounts of boogers coming out but I don't know if it's the antibiotics working or if we're in a good stretch here. I just wish I knew what was wrong with her so she could be a perky lovebug again. She never really seems like she feels good, you know? 
Also, Matt took this picture this weekend because honestly, this is what every day of my life is like. If the big kids could get up here, they would, too. Everyone sits with me. I know people always say "I can't go to the bathroom myself!" and I really can't. I can't pee, I can't work on stuff, I can't eat, I can't go to another room, I can't sit and watch TV, I can't read, I can't even nap without someone wanting to be right on me. 

It's suffocating. 

I'm so tired. If it's not me with health issues, it's a kid. I can't keep anything straight or stay on top of symptoms of anyone. I feel like I'm missing little things that are actually big things. Then I feel completely paranoid. It's terrible. I have therapy next week and thank goodness. 

3 comments:

Julie H said...

Oh my gosh poor baby :( I know we've dealt with a plugged tear duct before and a warm wash cloth seemed to help for us too.

middlechild said...

You are NOT paranoid. I can't believe something isn't wrong with her. I can't believe no one can diagnose her.

Shooting Stars Mag said...

Aw, poor Lucy. Definitely sounds like it's been rough for you all lately, and I hate to hear that. I'm glad she's doing a little better, but still, that's crazy they can't figure out what's wrong. Worse part of being sick sometimes!

-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net