Last Thursday, my son Nathan was at the door getting ready for school. This usually takes place when I’ve already been at work for over an hour, so I generally don’t see his routine. But since Nathan is Nathan, his tendency is to grab his jacket and ski pants off the hanger by pulling down on them. Despite the fact that this usually works out fine for him, this occasion saw the elastic shoulder straps of his ski pants cause the plastic hanger to whip forward and strike him in the face. As is usual when he does something that he ASSUMES will get him in trouble, he told us nothing.
That night, we noticed that his right eyelid was a little bit red and this is where he revealed what had happened that morning. He claimed it didn’t hurt or sting and his vision was fine. I sighed and shook my head at his lack of self-care when walking through his daily routine and let it go. Since he appeared none worse for the wear, I assumed the redness was a result of getting smacked in the face and that was that. When I tucked him in that night, his eyelid was red but still looked normal and he still claimed no pain or stinging.
The next morning on the Friday, I woke up at my usual time (despite having set my alarm for half an hour later) and prepped mine and Nathan’s lunch. Since it was Friday, I opted for a pair of jeans and a casual top to wear with a sports coat while at the office. I left the house, sipping caffeine and glad to have reached the end of the week. I started my work day with ideas of how I would spend my weekend rolling through my head. I was deeply into one of the projects I was working on when my wife sends me this photo…
Apparently sometime during the night, his eyelid went from mildly red to something out of a bad 80’s horror flick where a parasite is setting up shop beneath the surface of the skin. He had been up for almost an hour and chose twenty minutes before his departure to grace his mother with his presence and reveal the look of his face. He still claimed it didn’t hurt or sting but obviously, this would be pause for concern for any parent.
I made the decision that we shouldn’t wait and that it should get looked at immediately. I asked my wife to contact the school and let them know Nathan wouldn’t be in, this morning. I contacted my boss and let him know the situation and I packed up my work gear for the weekend and came home. I grabbed Nathan and we headed to his doctor’s office. It was about a 45-minute wait and it took all of about ten of those minutes for Nathan to start complaining he was bored. If not for the swollen eyelid, one would assume there was absolutely nothing wrong.
When we finally got in to see the doctor, although there was no pain and no loss of vision, the doctor determined that his eyelid was infected. I asked how this could be possible from being struck and he explained that if the hanger had bacteria or was dirty, it could have easily caused an infection. He prescribed an antibiotic that would need to be taken over about a week. Luckily, it’s a liquid and apparently tastes quite nice, so he’s totally game to take it. He tried his damndest to convince me he didn’t need to go back to school. He failed.
It seems as though his eyelid is getting better. But there’s no doubt that kids have this way of eating up several hours of the day for just about anything. To hear him tell it, you’d think there was nothing wrong and he was perfectly willing to head off to school, looking like that. But just look at that photo… He says it didn’t hurt but it hurts ME just looking at it! Kids! The adventure never ends. ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 