Mitch’s First Trip to the Hospital

On Monday night, Mitch got hit in the eye with the handle of an umbrella while trying to close it back up.  When it happened, we were at Kroger and my back was turned (I was checking out at a u-scan).  He screamed and cried when it happened and I could tell he was in a great deal of pain.  We went home, iced it and gave him some ibuprofen.  A few hours later and it was red, but it didn’t seem too bad.  I figured he’d end up with a black eye.  Tuesday and Wednesday were uneventful.  He seemed 100% fine and his eye seemed no worse.  Just a little swollen and red. 

Thursday morning, I got up around 5:45 for work.  Everyone was sleeping soundly until right before I went to leave around 6:30.  Mitch suddenly woke up crying and saying the his eye hurt.  Pat and I weren’t sure what was wrong and Mitch refused to open his eyes for us to check them.  He got more and more upset and we decided to take him to Urgent Care.  In our panic, we forgot to check and it didn’t open until 8.  Since that was still about 45 minutes, we decided just to wait and take him to the pediatrician.  We thought about Nationwide Childrens ER, but a friend of Pat’s had waited nearly 4 hours to be seen there recently and we really wanted to avoid that if possible.  I got to the pediatrician with Mitch at 8 on the dot and he was seen right away.  Unfortunately, he refused to open his eyes for the doctor for more than half a second.  At this point, they made us an immediate appointment with an eye doctor at Nationwide.  When I was getting Mitch out of the car at the hospital, he finally opened his eyes for me and it was then that I really started to panic.  The white of his eye was so red and bloodshot and I couldn’t see his iris at all - it was completely covered in blood.  

He continued to be pretty uncooperative with the doctor at Nationwide, but they worked their magic and he finally consented and opened his eyes.  They did a bunch of different tests, including an ultrasound of his eye.  The official diagnosis was Traumatic Hyphema (bleeding of the eye).  The doctor said that he most likely had a small bleed from the original injury (getting hit with the umbrella handle), and that he’d somehow re-injured it.  She told me that he couldn’t see out of his eye and that there was too much blood present for her to tell how bad the damage was.  She prescribed steroid drops every two hours and dilating drops twice a day.  We needed to keep his eye protected with sunglasses or an hard plastic patch at all times.  He couldn’t lay flat and had to sleep slightly elevated.  He couldn’t run, jump or engage in any rough play.  She wanted him to stay calm.  She also wanted us to keep him out of school and the babysitter’s to reduce the risk of further injury.  She said she was concerned about the intraocular pressure (pressure inside the eye).  High pressure is a big risk factor for glaucoma.  We made an appointment to come back the next afternoon and finally headed home.  Mitch was a trooper during our very long morning and he got a new LEGO set as a reward.  

At our appointment on Friday, the doctor was pleased with Mitchell’s progress.  His vision had partially returned and the pressure was decreasing.  I was thrilled!  The drops were NOT fun for anyone, but they were working!  She said that we needed to continue the drops and bring him back in on Monday.  We had to continue to be vigilant for changes in pressure and if he displayed any signs of increased pressure (nausea, vomiting, pain), we needed to bring him in or take him to the ER right away.  

Mitch did well over the weekend and the doctor was very happy with how his eye looked on Monday.  We were able to reduce the drops and he was able to return to school, although he wasn’t allowed to play on the playground.  He really has been a trooper about everything (outside of the drops).  These restrictions are not easy to follow when you’re three years old.  We have another appointment on Friday and I’m hoping that some of the restrictions will be lifted.  I think we still have a long way to go before we’re back to normal.  Mitch will be at high risk for developing a cataract and glaucoma in that eye so it will need to be monitored closely.  I’m grateful to be so close to such a good children’s hospital!  Hopefully this will all be behind us someday soon.