Coagulation Breakdown

The other night, Grant cut his foot pretty good, a nice gash that was just begging to be cleaned up and covered up with a band-aid.

Uh, not so fast.

Grant is averse to band-aids. No, averse is much too nice. Terrified? Stricken? And it's really not just band-aids, it's any sticker or unexpected covering of the skin. But that night, he needed one. As soon as I saw the cut, I knew were in for a stand-off. My first mistake was trying one at all, I figured it had been at least a year since we tried so maybe he's softened his stance a little. See that perforation of my ear drum? There's your stance...

I tried a wet cloth, but he would have none of it. Screaming. Crying. Terror. How do you keep blood from getting everywhere when you can't cover the cut? I still don't know, but after a couple of "kiss the boo boos", some quick dabs of the cloth, and more of just my hand covering his foot - it stopped. He fell asleep after wearing himself out from the crying. Fortunately, the clotting has held up and he has not re-opened it.

Not long after, it struck me that he has not had a band-aid in at least 5 years. How is that possible!? Owen goes through about 100 a month. We all need one at some point, right? But 5 years!? What will we do when he finally gives in to the inevitable and really opens one up? I think we better start preparing for that - any and all ideas are welcome...

am I going to die?

For whatever reason, Owen has had a few stys in his lower eye lid over the years. Usually, they go away with either a hot compress or some ointment. However, for the past few months, what appeared to be a sty got a little too big and we had to get it checked out.

The doc's response - hmmm, I'm not sure what that is, better get it checked by a specialist. Well, that's not what we wanted to hear!

So, a few weeks back we took him to a pediatric ophthalmologist (what a mouthful that is!) to get it checked out. He was fantastic in the office, pretty amazing really. He sat right up in the big chair, put his face in the "eye checking machine" and did everything the doc told him to. The diagnosis? Whew, nothing serious. She said it is a sty that has burst, then another grew on top of it, and maybe even a 3rd time. Unfortunately though, the only way to get rid of it is to cut it out.

Cut? In his eye? And, to top it off, the doc said that we would need 2 strong people who are not afraid of blood to hold him still while she works on his eye.

Umm.. Ok. Hmmm.. Can't wait for that.

Tuesday was the big day. Cut day. We tried our best to prepare him but of course he really had no idea what was in store for him. Staci was very prepared; she had a new stuffed gorilla for him to hold during the procedure and a transformer for after the procedure was done. Once again, he hopped right in the chair and allowed the doc to poke and prod. But then it was time to start.

Staci lay in the reclined chair and wrapped her arms and legs around Owen to hold his body still. I was behind him and in charge of holding his head still.

As soon as the disinfectant drops reached his eyes, it was all over. Tears. Screams. Struggle. And now, time for the sharp instruments. With his head firmly in my hands, the doc inserted a needle in his lower eye lid to numb it. The sight of his eyelid puffing full of liquid was a sight I will never forget.

While he is still screaming, the doc pulls his eyelid back in a tool to hold it in place. She then whips out a small scalpel/knife and starts lancing the sty. It takes a few cuts to completely remove it, but while this is happening, Owen is getting much more concerned. "Will I ever see again?" "Please make her stop!"

"Am I going to die?"

From a 5 year old? We all stopped and looked at him when he popped this line out. Where could he possibly have gotten this fear? This concept? I'm still stunned by the depth of his fear at that moment and the unspoken thoughts that must have been rushing through his head. As the doc applied a bandage over his eye, he saw a little of the blood and became even more concerned about losing his sight. In a manner of just seconds, he went from fighting the bandage to not wanting to take it off. He was so scared that taking it off would cause more pain or would cause a problem with this eye.

As the day went on, he was very comfortable with his bandage. Grant was quite curious about it but did not try to remove it from Owen's face. Finally, Staci was able to remove the bandage at bath time; he finally understood that it was ok to remove it and he was tired enough at that point that he didn't give up a fight.

Fortunately, there have been no complications and there have been no more concerns about death. But what an adventure into the mind of a 5 year old!

How old am I?

I'm one of those guys who never sees the doctor when he should, and usually not even after he should. I'd rather let a cold die off by itself, even it means a bit more suffering. Infection? My body can heal it. But, I've had this cyst growing on the back of my neck for about a year now, and it was finally starting to bug me, enough that I actually made an appt to go see the doc about getting it cut out. When I asked my wife "guess what I did today", she never came close to guessing that I saw the doc. The cyst is no big deal, it just needs some local surgery. I also had the doc check out some moles to make sure they aren't skin cancer (I've known 2 people recently who've had it); there is one that we need to watch, but nothing immediate.

So, the doc asked me to get some blood work done (the appt was last week) and she'd check for the usual problems. Today, I had the appt to go over the results - all is well... except I have "high cholesterol". C'mon, I'm just a kid, right? Isn't "high cholesterol" that stuff Florence Henderson used to sell on commercials? I'm invincible! I don't get sick, I don't get hurt, not me! I'm sure the doc saw some of those thoughts in my eyes as she told me that my count is actually pretty high (264 total, 197 LDL), it's not just a "wait and see" type of count. She showed me a few pictures of blood vessels and such, but I was mostly thinking about how I would need to do some "real" research later.

Once I actually submit to the idea that this might actually be a real issue for me, it appears that the 2 main changes would be diet and exercise. Fortunately, we started exercising at the Y back in about November. We've been trying to go twice a week, but it looks like I'm gonna have to do more. As for diet, I'm not sure our diet was that bad before, but it's really changed in the past few months with Grant's dietary changes. We've been trying to have him eat the same foods with us and that of course has meant a pretty drastic restriction in our menus. Of course, that doesn't cover lunches while at work, or my really bad habit of snacking late at night.

Oh, c'mon - say it ain't so! One thing's for sure, I'm going to have to cut down on my 100x100 burgers at In N Out.