Trying Not To

FREAK OUT!

Okay that isn't true. I am freaking out. These are the moments I feel like I just want to be back at "home". I think how much more comforted I would be if we had had the same pediatrician that I absolutely love for the last almost 6 years. Though I do like ours here, we don't have a bond and when you move as often as we do, it isn't easy to create that bond.

Nathan started complaining about his eye hurting and being watery on Sunday. I can't remember specific details because it really didn't look like anything at that time. We had been playing a version of volleyball on the trampoline that day I accidentally hit him in the face with the ball. Throughout the day Monday his eye got worse and by evening he was complaining of pain. I thought he had conjunctivitis--but his eye has never been red so I wasn't sure. We thought that maybe Sarah had accidentally scratched the inside of his eye. (She is always poking them in the face and they never stop her. I am really working on that because she is going to hurt someone!)

When we woke up yesterday it was so much worse so I immediately called the doctor. Well, because this is Belgium and there never seems to be any sense of urgency, our appointment was at 3:30 PM. We spent the day at the park with friends, had a picnic and Nathan never said a word about it. He was not happy about the doctor appointment and I was afraid that was why he wasn't complaining. It was watering incessantly, but throughout the day the swelling seemed to go down. At the doctor appointment, he didn't wince in pain (like he had the day before) when the doctor touched it. The doctor listened to my hypothesis about being scratched in the eye, but he had a new one. He thinks it is a spider bite. I listened to everything he said, but what? He said that it seems to be getting better and that the presentation is typical of a spider bite. He recommended spontaneous healing or a mild disinfectant like chamommila tea. Very typical of his practice and most in Belgium and normally I agree with the less is more approach, but this is how he woke up this morning. I realize it could be just because he just woke up, but I used the eye drops for conjunctivitis that we have for Sarah this morning and intend to treat it with those today.

I have been very careful discussing the spider bite theory because Nathan would absolutely freak out at the thought of a spider crawling around in the bed biting his eye while he's asleep. I mean most kids would. I am just having a really hard time remaining calm about this. Some times I just want to go home. (Or at least have our Daddy here--Sorry, Daddy, I know this picture will freak you out too, but I don't know what else to do!)