Mackenzie's eye

I haven't had a lot of time to be able to update many of you on the situation with Mackenzie's eye. On Sunday, Dec. 13, she woke up with a really swollen eyelid. The eye itself looked just fine, but her eyelid was almost swollen shut. She said it didn't hurt too bad, and as the morning went on, the swelling seemed to go down a bit. I actually tried to take her to a clinic that Sun. afternoon after a Christmas party at church, but it was a zoo there & after waiting 45 min. & only 1 person being called back to see the doctor, we left. We had a busy week, and didn't end up getting her in to the doctor that week either....her eyelid remained "puffy" all week, although nothing serious. I kept thinking it would just resolve itself eventually. Well, this past Saturday (the 19th) it had been a week since the whole thing started & it didn't seem to be really getting better. I decided that before we left for our Christmas vacation I should really have it checked out. SO, we spent 3 1/2 hours at a clinic on Sat. afternoon & found out that she has a scratch on her cornea. The dr. gave us some medicine that he said would help with the swelling, and also a prescription for eye drops to help prevent an infection in her eye. It ends up the medication for swelling did NOTHING, and by Monday morning, she was now running a fever. I ended up taking her into our pediatrician Mon. afternoon, and he felt like we really needed to see a pediatric opthamologist & got an appt. for us early Tues. morning.

Kenzie & I headed to that dr. Tues. morning at Children's Hospital in Birmingham. He took a look at it, and after consulting with another colleague, decided it was preseptal cellulitis. He gave us a prescription for an oral antibiotic and also sent us to have a CT scan done to make sure that it is not spreading to the back of her eye or to her brain. Basically it's a bacterial infection in her eyelid that could have been caused from the scratch on her eye, and if it's not treated can spread to other areas. I might mention that her eyelid had started swelling worse again & that she had some bubbly stuff on her eye as well which the dr. said was probably caused from the pressure of her eyelid. She was also still battling a fever every now & again.

We left for Ohio Tues. evening, and the doctor called us back Wed. to let us know that the CT scan showed it has not spread anywhere else, and that her sinuses looked enflamed, but that the antibiotic should help that as well. He asked how she was doing, and at that point I said she looked about the same. As of this morning, her eye is looking a little better....not as red, but still swollen. I am more concerned at this point that she is still getting a fever, and she complains that her stomach hurts quite often. I make sure that she takes her medicine with food to help prevent stomach ache, but it sure is frustrating that it is taking so long for her to recover, especially when we're away from home! Please pray for her to feel better & that her fever would go away, and the swelling would go away completely! Thank You!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!