The Joys of Parenthood (and Frisbee)

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Smart Boy plays Ultimate Frisbee at his High School. While it's not really an intramural sport, they do have a team of sorts, and they periodically play against other local H.S. clubs.

Yesterday was their usual practice day, and around 3:30 p.m. I received a call from the school to tell me that there had been an "accident." Evidently the Smart Boy had taken a Frisbee to the eye, and the iris was filling up with blood. The school representative thought it "might be best" if he was "seen."

You think?

So I called Kaiser, and hit the road to go pick him up. His ophthalmologist was able to see him right away.*

When I first saw him, the eye looked nasty. I mean, nasty. The Smart Boy's eyes are light green, but the injured eye was brick red with blood, not to mention the swelling and redness one expects when a colossal shiner is on the way. He then informed me that he couldn't really see out of it - just light and dark shapes.

I may have exceeded the speed limit on the way to the ophthalmologist's.

The injury is essentially a blunt force trauma to the eyeball, and includes glaucoma-like high pressure in the eye. His ophthalmologist has him on three kinds of glaucoma drops, a steroid drop to reduce the inflammation in the eye, and dilating drops. He's on bed rest with his upper body elevated until the pressure, swelling and blood accumulation go away. His vision has cleared, but the doc wants to see him every day to check the pressure for the rest of the week.

The damage done to the structure of the eye is evidently permanent, and he'll be at risk for glaucoma for the rest of his life.

That's one hell of a Frisbee, and one hell of an arm on the kid who threw it. The kid of course feels terrible, and volunteered to run the Smart Boy's school work back and forth for the rest of the week.

The ophthalmologist indicated that the injury is fairly severe, although the chance of the Smart Boy losing his sight in that eye is small if we follow the doc's instructions and seek immediate treatment if he starts to bleed again.

Ah, the joys of parenthood.

I was a bit wiggy until the doctor was able to see inside the eye and make a diagnosis (since the Smart Boy couldn't see out, the doctor couldn't see in, either). But the Smart Boy's on the mend now, and I checked on him several times last night to make sure he was remaining elevated in bed per the doctor's instructions (he wasn't - he kept scooting down and rolling over in his sleep).

The experience really brought home to me how very, very lucky we've been when it comes to injury and health issues. This accident could of been so much worse, and in general, both the Smart Twins have been healthy kids and teens. I can't imagine the stress of having a seriously ill child.

I think I'll go make a donation to the Ronald McDonald House.


*I know a lot of people bitch about HMO's, but my experience with Kaiser over the last 12 years has been exemplary.

17 comments:

mattw said...

Can't wait until I get a call like that from school.

I hope everything turns out ok.

Karl said...

Me too - I hope things turn out all right. :|

My school call was that my son had gotten tossed on the playground at school and had broken his arm - turns out it was a school employee done the tossing.

Steve Buchheit said...

Ouchers. Hope SmartBoy is all better real soon.

Anonymous said...

I'm not hoping everything will turn out all right, because I know it will. The Ordinary Goddess has decreed it: it must be so.

However, I will say that I hope the healing happens at a record pace (the Ordinary Goddess, alas, as no control over the speed of healing - stupid contractual God-like being agreements).

vince said...

Glad the school called you, and hope the eye continues to improve. I thought that was pretty stand-up that the kid who threw the Frisbee volunteered to run the Smart Boy's school work back and forth for the rest of the week. Must have been scary for him to talk to you, even though he didn't do it on purpose.

My daughter's been very healthy, fortunately, although she does have a small scar on her face from a minor car accident that happened when she was learning to drive. It scared the hell out of her, and for quite a while afterwards she refused to learn to drive, until it became obvious that dad wasn't going to be chauffeur forever, and that mass transit doesn't exist in the sticks.

Janiece said...

Vince, he spoke to the Smart Boy, not to me.

I'll be meeting him this afternoon, when he drops off the first batch.

But yes, I thought his volunteering was pretty classy, too.

Random Michelle K said...

Yoiks!

Here's to fast healing! Hope he's keeping rested without going stir-crazy.

Also, a tip: Aloe is very good for helping wounds heal with less scaring (I wasn't sure if he had a cut as well as the evil eye) and protecting the scar from UV also helps minimize scarring.

Janiece said...

Michelle, there was no laceration - just bruising around the orbit and the grade 4 hyphema.

Just back from the ophthalmologist, and the pressure in the eyeball is back in the normal range.

::sigh of relief::

He's off two of the glaucoma meds, but has to continue with the three others.

Another check-up tomorrow.

On an unrelated note, the ophthalmologist thanked me for taking good care of the Smart Boy while he healed. That gave me a WTF? moment, as you can imagine. But the doc said that he was amazed at how many parents had a lackadaisical attitude about their children's eye injuries - to the point where he was concerned about the kids' ability to heal.

Un-fucking-believable.

MWT said...

Owwwww. o.O

I hope it gets all better and he continues being able to see.

Jim Wright said...

Shit, Janiece, I just saw this (was busy today, just now getting around to the blogs).

Hope it all turns out OK, but as the Ordinary Goddess decreed it shall, then it shall.

You might, might, recommend sports safety glasses/goggles for the entire team. They make them specifically for UF. I used to play and we all were required to wear them - right after an incident exactly like what happened to smart boy.

Just a thought.

Janiece said...

Jim, it is worth considering.

The Smart Boy has to wear them from now on (since his eye is now susceptible to this type of injury), and I might mention it to his sponsor.

WendyB_09 said...

Jim beat me to the punch on the protective sports goggles.

Schools here in Georgia require them, whether for gym class, intramural,or competitive teams. Several parents I know have related that if the kid normally wears prescription glasses, they can get a little pricey, BUT it's well worth it at any price to protect vulnerable eyeballs.

Hope Smart Boy continues to heal quickly.

WendyB_09

Nathan said...

Feel better Smart Kid.

John the Scientist said...

Wow, I'm glad he's healing OK.

Janiece said...

John, me too. He gave me a bit of a scare.

Tania said...

HOLY CRAP! I end with sporadic time online and miss out on things like this.

How's he doing now? Poor kid, eye injuries suck (says the girl that's had to wear eye patches >5 times).

Janiece said...

He's fine. He goes back for a follow up in a couple of weeks, and he's back to his regular activities.