Killer Bite

Last night, Adam and Jackson went outside to kick the soccer ball around in the front yard before bath time. About 10 minutes later, they come in looking for bug spray because Adam had flicked a giant mosquito off Jackson's eyebrow, but they wanted to keep playing. I didn't really think anything of it, Jackson got his bath and milk, and went to sleep. About 2 hours later, he was up again, crying and fussing...this went on for the next hour, so I just put him in bed next to me when I went to sleep and he slept through the night. When we got up this morning, Jackson was really rubbing his eyes, and I just thought he was sleepy still, until he moved his hand and I saw that his right eyelid was nearly swollen shut! We had a MOPS board meeting at 9:45am, so we were trying to rush out the door anyway, so I grabbed the Benedryl and called the pediatrician in the car (I never can remember the dosing, so I just thought I'd call to make sure)

When we got to MOPS, every gasped when they saw his eye! It really looked like he had gotten socked in a fight. One of the mom's told me how much meds to give him and then cautioned me to watch it because her son got a bite on his eye, and he had to take antibiotics to get the swelling to go down. (I take their advise--most of them have 3 kids, so this is routine for them. Me being the cautious new Mommy never knows really when to panic and when to let him just shake it off!) So after the meeting, the doctor's office calls to tell me that if the swelling does not subside after the 6 hours of Benedryl, don't give him any more and come in during the walk in hours from 3pm-4pm (I love the walk in hours! They are fabulous!)

So in the meantime, I have errands to run, lunch to feed Jackson, and he's about to conk out. MOPS is about 2 minutes from my mom's, so I stopped in there to let her see his eye, grab him some lunch and a possible nap. When I get there, they are about to take off for lunch at IHOP, so of course, we tag along and make it a family affair with Aunt Tacey too. Everyone notices Jackson's eye--it's still huge and bright red. He really looks like an abused child at this point. So after lunch, I still have errands to run for the business, so Grandma Netty tags along. Target and Office Depot are tagged, then drop Grandma off and head to Dr. Perona's because the swelling has not gone down. I know in the back of my mind, "It's just a mosquito bite on the eye, no big deal." But with kids, you never know. I'm allergic to the little bastards, so maybe Jackson is too, but worse, who knows. (and remember, the nurse said to bring him in if the swelling didn't subside...)

Dr. Perona looks at it, tells me to put a little hydrocortisone on it and continue the Benedryl and if is swells UP more, call her at home. At this point, I know that it's not a big deal, but I'm a little miffed that I had to pay my freaking $20 co-pay for her to just say, "It's a mosquito bite." DUH! I freaking know that! YOUR nurse told me to bring him in! I just wanted to know how much drugs to give my child to slightly knock him on his ass and make the swelling go away--that's all! So as I'm checking out, the receptionist asks me "Has there been a mix up with your insurance?"--no words you really wanna hear. "NO." "Huh, because you have a $55 credit--you don't owe us any money." Halleluha!! That made my day. I don't know why, because basically I paid them, and it was money out of my pocket a few months back, but I just enjoyed the fact that my debit card wasn't being slid at that moment. So what do we do then? Go shopping and spend that $20!! I really did have to go to Academy and get Jackson a jersey, so this worked out swell!

So right now, Jackson is asleep (pumped full of Benedryl). Although his eye looks MUCH better, you can still see how his eyelid is swollen. Poor baby...mom says he looks like he had gone 3 rounds in a bar fight. Hopefully it will be all better in the morning. If not, I'll try and get some better shots of it with the daylight! Ha!