I Worry

I picked up Allison from school today.  She noticed me immediately, and ran down from the swings, and I could see her start crying on the way down.  She gave me a big hug and I held her tight and asked what happened.  When she calmed down a bit, she said that her friend was pushing the tire swing and it bonked her on the head.

Immediately I start to worry and wonder how hard she was hit.  Did she lose consciousness?  Her pupils look ok.  She's not bleeding from the ears.  She doesn't seem confused, but she's also upset.  During the car ride home, I quiz her, checking her memory, asking math and spelling problems.  She seems OK.  She remembers exactly what happened that led to the tire swing hitting her in the head, as well as events afterwards, and during the day beforehand.  When we get home, I let her play a math game on the iPad when we get home, and she gets them all right.

So, she seems fine.  I'm sure it was just a little bump that scared her more than anything.  Then I remember those horror stories of kids who seem fine, but then later in the evening get really tired, go to sleep with a headache, and wake up dead the next morning.  When Diana gets home, I tell her the situation and leave for basketball.  If she seems groggy or complains of a headache, get to the ER!  Everything appears totally normal, and I have no objective reason to worry.  But I worry.

After the game, I come home.  Allison is still awake. She hears the front door, and comes running down the hallway and greets me with a HUGE smile and BIG hug.  She's so sweet at bedtime, because I think she knows that if she's cute enough she can get away with things.  And it generally works (which makes me wonder why she doesn't employ this stratagem all the time).  I talk to her a bit.  She's awake and alert (having taken a nap today at school).  No headache.  I feel the worry melt away.  Mostly.

I hold her tight and tell her that I love her.  She kisses me on the nose and prances back to her room, singing to herself.

UPDATE:

Upon re-reading this, it makes me sound a little crazy.  I don't always worry.  But when given vague information like "I hit my head" with no idea of the severity, I just wanted to rule out the worst.  Anyways, Allison woke up happy and healthy this morning.  I am no longer worried.

Bad Words...

The other night Diana and Allison were lying in bed Allison's bed, each of them almost asleep.

"Mommy, Hate, Stupid, and Butt are bad words, right?"

"Yes."

"Which is the biggest bad word?"

"Stupid".

"And which is the littlest bad word?"

"Butt".

"Ok."

Eyes, etc

At her four year checkup, it was determined that Allison's eyes were seeing differently.  Her left eye was not awful, but noticeably worse than her right.

After seeing an eye doctor, she was given glasses for six weeks and then a followup.  The followup showed some improvement, but the doctor recommended patching for eight weeks.

Eight weeks is up, and Diana just called me after her followup.  Her eyes are showing continued improvement, both with glasses and without glasses.  That's the good news.  And I need to remember that that IS good news.  The bad news is that she needs to continue patching for as long as she continues to show improvement.  Her next appointment is four months from now.  I was really hoping that patching was behind us, and it's discouraging to hear that it's continuing indefinitely.

That said, the fact that she's showing improvement means things are working, and that's the most important thing.  I just want things to work faster!

Here are some numbers:

1/2012 without glasses before patching:  Right: 20/25  Left 20/40

 

3/2012 with glasses before patching: Right 20/20 -3 (missing 3 letters in row)  Left 20/25 -2

 

5/2012 without glasses after patching:  Right 20/25  Left 20/25 -2

 

5/2012 with glasses after patching: Right 20/20  Left 20/25 -1

 

To put this all into perspective, we're starting from a position where most people with amblyopia aspire to get to.  Some people start off at 20/400 or whatever, so we really are fine tuning.

(I still can't get over how beautiful those Romanesco broccolis are!)



Allison was eating one of these last night at dinner, and started talking to herself.

"Once upon a time, there was an island that was covered in princess castles.  There were no roads or cars or parks.  Only princess castles.  And lots of princesses."

She rubbed the broccoli in butter on her plate.

"Then, all of a sudden, it got really foggy, and the princesses were worried."

Then she took a big bite, and everyone started laughing.  It was a cute moment.

Email

I got an email from Allison this morning.  She got her 15th star (for wearing her eye patch, as well as getting dressed by herself and general good behavior), so we're off to ice cream after work!  Woo hoo!  :)

hi   dady

i  got  mi   15    star

i  love  uoo

from  allison

Word cloud

A word cloud, based on the text from this blog.  Created from here:  http://timc.idv.tw/wordcloud/en/#