Eye See!

Today we had Dominic's 3 month eye check-up at the opthalmologist. Of course it would fall on a day that we both feel like death warmed-up. Little man and I picked up some sort of bad cold and neither of us have been doing too well. I squint every time I swallow because it hurts so much, and it feels like I have two balls of cotton wool shoved up each nostril. Not pleasant.
Little man has been struggling to breathe, it's so sad. He is constantly nursing for comfort, but he will unlatch and gasp for air because his nose is so congested. Poor guy, I would have this sickness twice if it meant I could take his away.
The eye check-up went OK. I wish I could be more enthusiastic about it, but I cannot. I understand that the nature of a medical university is that students are there to learn, but my 3 month old does not understand this and he does not feel the need to co-operate when 3 people try to perform the same test on him. By the time the "real" doctor came in he was fed-up and cranky, so the one person who actually has experience didn't get to examine him thoroughly. To add to my concern, the "real" doctor wanted to send me on my way before she even checked the pressure in Dominic's eyes - that was the entire point of my visit.

I try not to get too cocky about these things because I am clearly not a doctor, but I have done enough research to know what they should be looking out for. I asked if she was at all interested to know the pressure in his eyes and she said she was, but at his age it is difficult to check the pressure. What I wanted to say was "Well this is a children's hospital so how about we give it a try?". What I actually said was nothing, I just stared at her, but I think it had the same effect because she called the nurse in and instructed her to check his pressure.

After some numbing drops the pressure reader was placed on Dominic's "stained" eye and spat out the reading of 21. I knew from the last visit that "normal" is anywhere from 10-20, so of course this concerned me greatly - at his last visit the pressure was 14 in this eye. He was squirming a lot so the nurse took another reading, this time the machine decided the pressure was 19, and on a third try it spat out an 18. Hmmm, maybe the doctor had a valid point when she said it is hard to get an accurate reading on a baby his age. Anyway they recorded the reading of 18 as his actual pressure, because it would not read lower than his actual pressure apparently. It's within normal, but on the higher end. I asked the doctor if she was concerned and she said she was not concerned. She said everything looked great and she would see him again in November. If the doctor is not concerned, I know I should not be, but this jump from 14 to 18 does concern me. I think everything will concern me until that MRI comes back normal in January.

Dominic is a wonderful little trooper and he has such a beautiful character. Despite all the poking in his eyes and his awful cold, this little man still had a smile for every doctor who examined him. And he had a chuckle and a smile for his big sister, who was as good as gold throughout this appointment. She certainly charmed all the nurses as I caught several of them taking photographs with her and she left the hospital with quite a collection of stickers. What a lucky mama I am to have these two precious treasures!