Eye can't see!

Well I don't see very well at all! Turns out that in addition to the bilateral conjunctivitis I also seem to have corneal abrasions. This is what has been causing me so much pain and agony for the past two weeks! I finally went to the ER, as resistant and adamant as I was being a nurse and said, " I need help". Started out to work with Joshie in tow (he goes to my Mom's until hubby picks him up and takes him home). I get on the road and.....and.....I can't see! Literally, the cars are blurry, the signage is unfocusable until I get right up on them. I'm scared and decide that $#&!-ing with my eyes is no game, girl take your behind to the ER. I wait until hubby hits my mothers and I call in to work and let them know what's going on. Well, they have an idea because I've looked like hell for two weeks. Anyhoo, after getting my eyes numbed which burned then felt like heaven,... no pain, dyed, so that they could visual them under ultraviolet lamp and pricked, they found corneal abrasion on both eyes. If you've ever had a corneal abrasion you will know...IT HURTS!!! Why it's taken them so long to heal I have no clue. It could be the horrible ventilation at work forcing particles into my already delicate eyes or the wrestling I do with Joshie. Yes, the boy has poked me numerous times in the eye. So rest and multiple drops of Tobramycin ointment to the eye every three hours I think they are getting a little better. Vision is still blurry and ain't worth crap. I can't pull out of my driveway. And I'm sure work is threw with me. But look, the thought of not seeing my babe's face again because I didn't care for my eyes would tear me apart. Now, due to the holiday I can't get in to see an opthalmologist until next week (after turkey day). Oy vey!

MMR and Autism

(picture:PopPop and Grandma Woods)

So Joshie had his one year check up and vaccination. For the longest time I contemplated forgoing or nixing the MMR shot. With all the hype regarding it's possible link to Autism, of course I was afraid. But, I had to put aside the media hype and do my own research in addition to discussing it in depth with his pediatrician. Well, I found that here in New Jersey the incidence of Autism is higher than any other state. We all know the air quality in Jersey isn't the greatest and cancer incidence is also high in this area. But I found that diagnosis is very tedious and also involves many other factors despite the MMR shot. Joshua's doc starts early (at around 6 months) with her testing for Autism. Joshua passes with every visit with flying colors. "He is alert and bright" in her own words "and his attention towards me proves he's not autisitc". Autistic children tend to be in their own world, will not acknowledge a stranger and if they do will tend to focus on the mouth rather than the eyes when someone speaks (a cardinal sign). Check out the links for more symptoms and great info. As a registered nurse in L&D we adhere to many of the NICHD standards so I trust their info greatly. So my baby is doing wonderful and I thank the Lord above for that. He also tolerated the vaccination with not even a hint of temperature fluctuation ( I expected a mild fever and irritability). So there, as a mother you do what's best for your kid.

On the other side, myself, I've been awful. I've been battling this eye infection/conjunctivitis since his birthday. Used anitbiotic drops for a week and it's not gone yet. It seems to be aggitated by my work environment. It's very dry and the air vents probably haven't been cleaned in years (yes people, this is a hospital okay!). I really need to make an appointment with an internal medicine doc to get a full physical and all that good stuff. So, baby good, Mama bad. And oh yeah, Master Woods is starting to stand without holding on to anything for a long period of time. He even gets bold and will rock and dance but not one step yet.