Eye Exam

Since Hayden's appt was at 8am, we had to get up about 5:30am to get showered, dressed, packed, and eat breakfast. Yep, we got up early for the free buffet breakfast. Another sign of our advancing age. After breakfast, we packed up the car and headed to Dr. Trese's office. Luckily the office is only about 15 minutes from the hotel. Of course, it is rush hour traffic, but with Tony driving and Tom Tom to guide us (thank you Brandi) we arrive on time and without incident. This early in the morning we are able to find a great parking space in the parking ramp. Thankfully, this hospital offers free parking. The hospital we used to take him to in Chicago didn't.


The worst part of eye appts is having to wait around for the eyes to dilate. We finally get to see Dr. Trese. He checks Hayden's eyes out and gives us some unexpected news. BOTH of Hayden's eyes look better. There has even been some retinal reattachment in the left eye that was previously completely detached. He wants to see Hayden back in 6 months for an exam under anesthesia. In the meantime, we are to get his prescription rechecked since he refuses to wear the glasses he currently has. What awesome news! I suppose the 10 hour drive each direction was worth the 10 minute doctor's exam. He also said that Hayden is poking his eyes for visual stimulation and to keep him from doing this so he doesn't cause bleeding in his eyes. Keeping him in bright light is supposed to help this.

At 10am we started back to Iowa. I am convinced that Michigan grows on our way home. Every time it seems as if we will never get out of that state. It's a pretty drive, but by that time, we are so ready to be home. Unfortunately, gas prices when up just before we left for MI. Gas was $2.47 in Des Moines and it was an average of $2.89 in Michigan. We have discovered a new stop in Battle Creek, Michigan where we can get gas at Sam's club with our membership discount, grab a cheap lunch at McDonald's, and get our much loved carmel macchiatos at Starbucks...heaven. About 30 minutes outside of Battle Creek, Hayden began screaming and was completely inconsolable. He was so upset, he really broke our hearts. He has never been so upset for so long. Yep, he is teething for sure. He spiked a fever at the hotel and it was back. Thank goodness I packed the Tylenol (ok, so it was actually the generic brand from Wal-Mart). He calmed down for maybe 90 minutes. After all the heavy pain meds this poor guy has been on in his life, I'm not really sure Tylenol is much help. If it is, it doesn't last long. The inconsolable crying lasted until we were about an hour west of Chicago. It didn't help matters that we were stuck in traffic for about 45 minutes in Chicago. Finally, it was time for more Tylenol. With that dose, I decided to fill the dropper with water and see if Hayden would take any orally. His mouth had to be sooooo dry by that time. To my surprise, he couldn't get enough of it. He had at least 6 droppers full...yea!!! Daddy came up with a great idea that kept Hayden happy the rest of the way home. He stuck his pacifiers in a glass of ice, so I kept trading them out on the way home.

I fed him smaller than his usual feeds on the way home so we could avoid vomiting on the way home. Which we almost did. This was the first road trip we've been on that he had to be fed in the car. I learned a few things. We can probably never pack too many blankets to catch the puke. Packing 2 shirts for each pair of pants I pack for Hayden is not overkill. An empty garbage bag is necessary for all of the puked on clothes. An empty water bottle as well as a full one are necessary in addition to another container for water that I can pour water into since the syringes don't fit into a water bottle. The empty water bottle is to hold the water that has just been used to clean out the feeding tube.

We arrived home about 7:15pm, just missing Nicholas, who went to bed at 7pm. I was glad that he went to bed on schedule; however, I was sad that I wouldn't get to see him until after work the next day. As I unpacked, I thought about how we had to get back into the car to head to another doctor's appt in MN the next Monday. That was enough to make me even more tired. We put Hayden to bed at 9:30pm and went to bed about an hour later. That 4:30am alarm for work was going to feel much earlier than it usually does.