Welcoming a little bit of pink (eye) to the family

Pink eye has landed. Pink eye has landed.

On Friday, Zach felt awful. Really really awful. I know my kid really well and I can immediately tell when he's "faking" sick so he can watch more tv (he's SO my kid!) and when he's actually sick. And on Friday he was sick.

Slight fever, lethargic, not wanting to eat a bite of food, sitting pathetically on the couch starting at the electronic babysitter. I wanted to cheer him up, so I declared Friday "PJ and MOVIE" day! He was so excited- but when we made doughnuts as our "snack" while we prepared to watch "Winnie the Pooh" (sooooo cute! You must watch!!!!), and he didn't even take a bite of the delicious, warm, cinnamon sugar covered creations we had made- well, I knew he was really really really sick.

Hubs came home early. I took Z to the walk-in clinic. "It may be strep," they said, "but it's too early to tell". And back home we tread.

Friday night was bad for Z. He asked to go to bed at 6:30pm. He woke up about every 45 minutes, crying. He was yelling in his sleep for "MELLLLLLLLLLLLK, peeeeessseeeeee." I pretty much camped outside his room until 3am, when he seemed to fall into a good, deep sleep.

Then Saturday came and he awoke with eyes that were red and puffy and oozy and gross. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, yellowish gunk gathered at the corners and he was compelled to constantly touch his eyes, no matter how much we begged him not to. By noon, we were convinced he had pink eye in at least one, if not both, eye. Hubs headed out on a hunt for some pink-eye drops (3 pharmacies later, he found them). Z sobbed as we held him down trying to get some of it in his eyes. It seemed, if nothing else, to soothe him and reduce the eye touching. I bleached his toys (diluted, don't worry) and washed his sheets and stuffed animals in hot water. Literally, my house has never been more disinfected or more clean than on Saturday.

But then I started to worry (surprise). What if he had full-blown strep and needed meds? What if he had an allergic reaction to the drops? What if... So I packed him up and carted him off to the walk-in clinic. Again. And this time they confirmed- no to strep but yes to pink eye. In both eyes.

And that's where we've been standing since Saturday. I will say that the antibiotic drops seemed to clear up the worst symptoms almost immediately. Today (Monday) his eyes don't appear red at all and they have no oozy gunk to speak of. I think we may have caught it right before the pink eye got really really bad. The side-effects of him feeling so rotten, though, have been worse than the sickness itself. He is clingy and whiney and is watching entirely too much tv but doesn't have the energy or desire to do anything else. He's barely sleeping at night and yelling things like "DADDDDY THE BESTTTTTTTTTTT" in his sleep (no really. thanks kid.). He's still not really eating much except for toast with honey and cereal. But I do think he's on the mend.

For my part, I've lived in sweats and unwashed hair for about 3 days. I haven't worn a stitch of makeup and I'm pretty sure that I'm destined to get whatever it is he has because I have been coughed on more than I'd like to share. But we're hanging in there...

So, yes, pink eye has joined our family. It's made me clean my house from top to bottom, look like crap, cancel plans for dinner with a fantastic friend (who was super understanding, phew!), watch more cartoons than I ever want to, live on 2-3 hours of sleep a night... so it's pretty much the worst house guest ever. Hopefully we'll be rid of it soon and my little boy will be back to his bright, happy self. And I can start bathing again.