Eye Update

Yesterday Jack had an appointment with a new ophthalmologist for a surgery consultation. The doctor agreed that he is a good candidate for eye muscle surgery. Now all we have to do is call the surgery scheduler and arrange a date for Jack to have the surgery. He said that they usually schedule a few weeks out. The ophthalmologists office is located right next to a Children's Hospital, so that is where they will be doing the surgery. He said the procedure takes about 40 minutes and recovery is fairly easy. He was very good about explaining the procedure to me - they even got someone to take Jack out of the room and play with him so I could have an uninterrupted conversation with the doctor. That was really nice!

He will still need glasses after surgery, but there is a good possibility that he won't need bifocals anymore. There is also the possibility that we will still need to do some type of patching after surgery if his vision isn't good enough. For some reason yesterday, he didn't do well on the vision test (reading the letters) for his left eye (the "bad" eye). I've seen him do better - so I don't know what was going on yesterday. So hopefully his vision is good enough that he won't need patching after surgery. However, he does need patching done starting now until surgery - at least 2 hours a day. That isn't too bad. His old fleece patch (seen here ) doesn't fit his glasses anymore, so we'll have to use the adhesive ones for a few weeks. Ick.

I will update when we know more about the surgery date - and of course I'll update after surgery!

This Wasn't In The Parenting Books...

I almost don't know how to say this.

Every time I write something down, it just doesn't sound right.

It sounds a little bit crazy.

Far-fetched, if you will.

Like, I never-in-a-million-years thought I would be saying something like this.

So, I will just say it.

Are you ready?







My son ate a light bulb.







No kidding. The kid BIT, CHEWED, and SWALLOWED the glass part of a nightlight light bulb. Want the whole story? If so, keep reading.

Jack has "quiet time" every day after lunch. This has replaced nap time. He usually stays up there for an hour or so. It gives us both some down-time and is a nice break in the day. (Who am I kidding...it's mostly for me.) So, yesterday, he was having quiet time in his room and Lonnie and I were downstairs watching TV. We heard Jack coming downstairs and figured he was just coming out to whine about some toy being broken or not wanting to stay up in his room. The first thing out of his mouth when he looks at me was, "That was icky." And he spit. Confused (because there isn't anything edible in his room), I asked him, "What was icky?" His reply?

"The NIGHTLIGHT."

Hmmmm? Come again? The nightlight was icky? Not exactly something you want to hear from a 4 year old boy.

I bolted upstairs to find his nightlight, in the outlet, with the bulb broken. The entire glass part of the bulb was broken off of the metal part of the bulb. When I saw this, I may or may not have muttered some very inappropriate words in front of my 4 year old. I quickly scanned the area and picked up the shards of glass that I saw on the floor, unplugged the nightlight and ran downstairs. I told Lonnie "We're going to the hospital."

Before we left for the hospital, we sat down with Jack for a second and asked him what exactly happened with the nightlight. His responses -

"I put it in my mouth."

"It tasted icky."

"I chewed it, like this."

"I swallowed it, like this."

We asked him 20 times if he swallowed it, and his response was consistently YES. So, off we went to the ER.

We walked up to the ER desk and they asked why we were there. "Um, well, my son, you see, he, um, bit and chewed and swallowed the glass part of a light bulb." I'm sure my face was bright red. It's a bit embarrassing to admit that your child has just swallowed glass when you weren't watching him. Both of the receptionists gasped. You know that's not a good sign.

We got back to triage and got a room really quickly (the ER happened to be very slow - something I was praying for while we were driving there!) and saw the doctor. They took x-rays of Jack's neck, chest, and stomach. And the results were - nothing. They didn't see anything. Which is great. They probably wouldn't be able to see just glass anyway, but the doctor wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything else stuck in there (since obviously our kid has a thing for putting stuff in his mouth). The doctor thoroughly checked his mouth and gums and teeth and didn't see any cuts or blood or glass. Now, we just watch him and make sure blood doesn't start coming out of places it's not supposed to, or that he doesn't get a fever or start throwing up.

When we came home, I looked more thoroughly in Jack's room for glass pieces and I found quite a few more little tiny pieces on his carpet. One of them had blood on it. Good grief.

Apparently it's time for us to provide Jack with more APPROPRIATE things to stick in his mouth. We know he has a lot of sensory input needs for his mouth, we just never thought he would resort to a light bulb.

So...needless to say...Jack no longer has a nightlight. All of his outlets have plugs in them. He had several conversations with us and the doctor about only putting food in his mouth.

Yesterday was exhausting! Here's a picture of the infamous nightlight. Sorry it's fuzzy, it was taken with Lonnie's phone and we were heading out the door to the hospital.

10 in '10 - Week 3

So, just completed week 3 of the "10 in '10" Challenge. I am officially down 6.5 lbs! Not much, but pretty good considering I haven't made any MAJOR changes. Oh, and I have lost 1" off of my waist! I am exercising almost every day (at least 5 times/week) and making healthier eating choices. I decided to not completely rule out sugar, but to have it in moderation. I've been doing much better with this approach. It seems that as soon as I make something a "no" food, I crave it and think about it and dwell on it and obsess over it. And then I end up overeating it! I've just been trying to have smaller portions, eat more fiber and protein, less white bread-type things, and very few sweets. For exercise I've been doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD. Whew! She really kicks my booty. I am on Day 6 and am already noticing a difference in my stamina and what I can complete during the workout. Very encouraging! It's much easier to stick with exercising and healthy eating once you start seeing results.

Eventually, I would like to sit down and write my story of weight gain and struggles with losing it and where I am in my journey now. I just don't have time right now!

For now, I am very happy with the way things are going and am confident that I will reach my goal of 50 by 30!!!

Just had to share...

I read this blog post this morning and it brought tears to my eyes. I can't tell you how many times we've gone to a public restroom and Jack has "freaked out" because the toilets have automatic flushers or someone else flushes unexpectedly. He always walks into a bathroom with his hands over his ears.

http://jesswilson.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/an-angel-in-the-loo/

Disappointment

Maybe that will be my word of the year.

Gained 1.5 lbs. during week one of my "10 in 10" Challenge.

I still worked out this morning. I still ate healthy. I am still (trying very very hard to be) committed.