Wednesday, April 15, 2009

"Have you tried M&Ms?"

In explanation of this latest post's title, let me start with Monday. Hannah had surgery on her eyes on Monday morning to further correct her eye misalignment. The surgery went great and Hannah did well despite some mild nausea afterward...that is until we had to start with the dreaded eye drops! Hannah's discharge instructions explain that she must use steroidal-antibiotic eye drops, one drop in each eye twice a day for 10 days. The drops are to help prevent infection and to reduce the swelling and redness. Her doctor explained to us, while Hannah was in the recovery room, that right after the surgery, he had administered the first dose of eye drops. Great! One less thing for us to worry about that morning. Fast forward to Monday night. It's time for bed and Hannah's second dose of eye drops. It was a bad situation to say the least. Did I mention Hannah LOATHES eye drops?! Larry and I fought with her. In the process, I threw out all kinds of bribes that after about 30 minutes turned into threats! We tried and tried to explain that her eyes may become infected if she doesn't use the drops and that they will hurt if that happens. After much pleading, she finally laid down while we administered the drops. Yesterday morning, was much better. When I first mentioned that it was time for her drops, she cried a little but laid her head in my lap to have them. I thought to myself, "Okay, we're doing great. This is going to get easier and easier." Needless to say, my judgment was rushed! Last night, I grabbed the eye drops and told her it was time. That's about the time when she started with her live performance of "The Exorcist". After her antics, I'm just amazed that I didn't have to clean up spewed pea soup! Although, that would have been more pleasant than what we witnessed. After two hours, we gave up and put her to bed. Poor Jacob is probably traumatized for life having witnessed Hannah's meltdown! He even tried to get her to calm down and cooperate with no success. I was very nervous about having to give her the drops this morning by myself.
After breakfast, I told her it was time for drops. The first eye went great but she squirmed, cried, and covered the second eye. After about 10 minutes, I put her in time out telling her that she could get up when she was ready to have the second eye done. While she was in time out, the phone rang. On the other end was one of the nurses who helped take care of her on Monday. She was calling to check in on Hannah. I explained the troubles we are having with the eye drops. Her response was, "Have you tried M&Ms?" Lady, I have tried everything but crack and a trip to DisneyWorld!!! No, I didn't say that to her but I did almost laugh in her ear. She did have some suggestions. Warm up the bottle of drops in my hands first and give her tylenol about an hour prior to giving the drops in case she is experiencing some discomfort. When I hung up the phone, Hannah announced that she was ready to get up and have the second drop. She laid her head in my lap and cooperated like a trooper. Afterwards, she jumped up and asked if she could play with her Play-Doh. Before this is over, I may need some BP Rx! Wish me luck for tonight's round!!

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