54 hours of torture!

I'd rather not write this post. By writing it I have to relive it and the last few days have been the most emotionally draining and heart wrenching days Nathan and I have ever experienced. Our sweet baby Kendrick got Tide laundry spray boost in his eyes Sunday morning. Typing it out makes me want to cry yet again. Because of miscommunication and failure to follow the promptings of the spirit our son was in pain for days. 

54 hours of this!

We put him down for a nap and the Tide spray was on his changer from using it earlier that morning. There is no blame on whose fault it was but simply the fault of not being more attentive to the spirit. Kendrick was quiet for so long I though he possibly took a short nap.

When he started to cry for us I though it was because he was still tired and woke up to a sound. His cry never sounded like he was in pain or that he was hurting. My biggest regret is that I did not know this. That I did not immediately know to go into his room. Instead Nate and I both stood by his door telling him to quiet down and go night night (and he would get quiet).

I was going to take a shower and then check on him afterwards and I am so thankful I decided against that. Nate went to some meetings and I decided Kendrick could just be awake and hang out with me. When I walked into his room I was immediately confused. His eyes were so red and he wasn't crying in a way that would make them that way.

I saw the bottle on the floor and immediately knew why he had only been quiet for a short "nap". I read the bottle and we both stripped down and headed for a shower to flush his eyes. When we got out of the shower he was running around like himself and the poison control center assured me that he would be fine.

He was not fine. Only 10 minutes after the shower he was walking around like he was blind and trying to rub his eyes (which we were not to let him do according to poison control). We flushed his eyes 2 more times before finally deciding that we needed to take him to the ER.

The ER basically drugged him enough to allow us to flush his eyes without him fighting us. They gave us a antibiotic to put in his eyes so that if he scratched his cornea bacteria could not grow. We were on our way feeling confident that our son would be fine and would eventually open his eyes the next day.

Monday came and went and we still had not seen Kenny's beautiful blue eyes. We decided that an urgent care probably couldn't do much so Nathan gave him a remarkable blessing and we waited until Tuesday to take him in to see a Pediatric Ophthalmologist. It was so frightening to not know why he was not opening his eyes and to experience life with a blind toddler. The Ophthalmologist was able to reassure us that he could not go blind from the Tide spray and that neither one of his corneas had been damaged. He gave us a prescription for anti-inflammatory eye drops. It was a relief to have answers but still so sad to watch our son running into walls and not knowing when we would see his eyes open.

We did many things in order to prompt Kendrick to open his eyes. We even attempted a park we had not been to before in hopes that he would want to see where to explore. I must say Kendrick must not be afraid of anything because he confidently went down slides and roamed the play toy with his eyes tightly shut. I was so proud of him and yet would constantly cry about him not showing interest in opening them. We even went to Fry's grocery store and he happily put a blanket over his head and rode in the cart (It was hard to see other kids pointing and asking questions about his odd behavior).

After a long walk Tuesday evening we came inside and I let him lead the way. He instantly went to the cottage cheese container that was on the floor and started playing with it. I have never felt so joyous in watching him see what it felt like was for the first time. It felt better than watching him take his first step or roll over. My son could see! He could play. He could explore. I instantly took pictures and called Nate at work.

Kendrick's eyes are still pretty sensitive. He is hesitant to open them after sleeping and especially when we put in his eye drops. In fact this morning it took him at least an hour before he was willing. We have another eye doctor appointment tomorrow but I am thrilled that we will not have to force his eyes open in order for the doctor to get a look.

I feel like Kendrick was extremely lucky and we could not feel more blessed to have him spared his eye sight. Tide spray is not something that should have even caused him to be blind for a few days but with flushing his eyes with AZ water (pure chlorine it seems) and forcing them open for medicine he was very traumatized. Overall he could not have handled it better. I am confident that if the Lord did not allow him to see he would have figured out how to get around in a matter of weeks. 

I have learned many things over the past few day. Most importantly life really can change in a instant. We must always bring our A game and live every moment to the fullest. Also the ER blanket and stuffed animal they gave Kendrick were as much a comfort to me as they were to him. I hope I can somehow find a way to give back and help someone else that has to go through something so difficult.