Zander's Hospital Stay

On the day of family reunion, Zander woke up with a swollen eye. It almost looked like someone had hit him in the eye. I wondered if one of the boys had bumped him in the night or if a spider had bit him. I wasn't sure. But I thought, "Just my luck, we will go to reunion and everyone will think I hit my kid."

We kept an eye on him throughout the day. It wasn't until my mom said that it had really gotten worse that I started to worry. Don and I decided that we better leave family reunion early and take him in to get it checked. With it being Memorial Day, I knew a lot of the clinics would be closed. So we just went straight to Primary Children's Hospital.


By the time we arrived, his eye was pretty much swollen shut. They put in an IV so they could give him antibiotics as soon as possible. I was so glad Don was there. I usually go alone with the injured child while Don stays with the rest. But he was there to help hold him down. It was traumatic for all of us.

They started talking about a CAT scan to make sure that the infection hadn't spread to the back of the eye. I looked at the doctor and asked if she was kidding. How could something that started so little grow into something so serious, so fast? Don held him down yet again, this time for the CAT scan. But he was inconsolable and started crying out for me. I went in while Don stayed out with Dresden. I sang every song I could think of to try to keep him still. We blew bubbles, played with balls. They had someone there that brought all these toys in hopes to keep him still long enough to do the CAT scan. Finally they realized that it was pointless. They sedated Zander and were able to do the CAT scan.


As we sat waiting for the results, I was trying to keep Zander busy. I let him hold the camera and take a couple of pictures. I like this picture. This was the nurse that was telling us that the infection didn't spread and that it was time to start the antibiotics.

The doctor came in an started talking about having us stay the night. I was still in denial surprised that such a little thing could turn into something so scary. We ended up staying overnight and going home late in the afternoon on Tuesday. By the time we went home he had had four doses of IV antibiotics. His eye had just started opening again. They told us that he had Cellulitis resulting from a bug bite that was infected.

Zander is doing great now. His eye isn't swollen anymore and looks perfectly normal (Well, except for the bruise from running into a drawer on Friday, but that is another story!).