Could YOU Comply?

[froglady]

Before I go any further, know that DD is working as hard as possible to be 100% compliant, and despite her exhaustion and irritation. She is fully aware of the consequences if she doesn't, so that is not an issue. I'm just wondering how many of us could comply 100%.

DD has a serious corneal abrasion, due to her using contacts, ie, something abraded the cornea, and she thought it was just her allergies acting up, so she continued wearing contacts. The irritation would come and go, so she would take them out for a couple of days until it "cleared up." Not smart, but something that thousands of people probably do every day.

Anyways she started having severe eye pain on the 3rd, went to a DC ER, where they started her on eye drops and gave her a follow-up appointment with an opthamologist. When he saw her, he made an emergency call to Johns Hopkins ER for her to be seen by a corneal specialist there. It is a 1&1/2 hour trip from her home. At this point, she was unable to see out of that eye, so her roomate had to drive her.

They saw her, started different eye drops which had to be applied every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day, and she had to come back every morning to be checked. This went on until 9/6, when it changed to every hour, and every other day visit. On Friday, it was changed to every 2 hours, and every 3rd day. She goes again today (she went Monday) She is physically exhausted, as she hasn't had more than 2 hours of sleep since 10 days ago. She's a trooper, and is still doing the best she can (although she confesses to missing two doses-not in a row- because she slept through her alarm) She can't miss any more work, as she only started in August!

I know that I was so exhausted bfing two children, but I wasn't expected to do much those first two weeks, AND they were my alarm clock. If they slept a little longer, so could I. Also, I could pump milk and let DH take a feeding, and I didn't have to travel 3 hours RT, plus wait in a waiting room, every other day or so.

I have a feeling that I wouldn't do as well following doctor's orders as DD has been doing.

 

[monymony3471]

Oh wow. She is a trooper. I just hope that this will all go away in the end. Good luck to her!

 

[HonestAbe]

WOW! Ummm yeahhh - I couldnt. When I was in the military in boot they liked to let you sleep 30 minutes then wake you up to go on patrol. You would basically lose a night a week of sleep because of it. But you were at least up and physically active. What your DD is going through - no way. I wouldnt have the discipline. She might want to tell the Dr. she needs to slow down as it's impacting her ability to function and see if the Dr. is willing to change the regimen.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Yea I could....have done alot worse.

 

[golfgal]

I could have done it for one night, maybe. I can't function without sleep. Maybe the fear of losing your eyesight might motivate you to do better though. Hope she is feeling better.

 

[momrek06]

Ahhh...OP, those are DD's eyes..she has to COMPLY. It is utmost importance. And I believe she realizes this or she would not be so dedicated to her care of her eyes.

Tell her to HANG IN THERE. Keep up the GREAT but exhaustive work. It will so be worth it when this is all behind her.

Maybe no more contacts..huh..!!!

Keep us posted on DD's progress!!

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Wow! That has got to be tough. Your dd certainly sounds like a trooper.

I don't know if I could comply (I'm sure I'd be sleeping through a few of those alarms, too), but for my eyesight, I'd try my best. I think that's a pretty big motivating factor, and it's probably what helps keep her going.

to both of you.

 

[CathrynRose]

YIKES! Youve scared me!

Ive "taken out my contacts due to my allergies for a few days" too!

I think the fear of going blind, gives you reason to comply. But heck yeah - hard work!

 

[AllyandJack]

I travel 4 hours round trip daily for blood tests. I'm on 2 injections a day that have to be done at specific times. It can be done. I try to work my 30 hours a week, but I'm lucky in that I can work whenever I want. I do 3 10 hour days so I have some off days where I don't have to fight traffic into the city after my appointment.

I hope she gets better soon....and has a weekend or a holiday where she can rest and have fun. Do the doctors know how much longer she'll have to keep this up?

 

[Ted and Holly]

I have had corneal ulcers before and had to go through the same thing. She sounds like she is doing well, but I have to say YES! of course I could comply. These are her eyes! When they say that these things can lead to blindness, they mean it!

 

[Fantasmic303]

It's tough. I went through something VERY similar last year (too similar, in fact), between the meds and the doctor visits and the discomfort PLUS frustration about the fact that I, literally, couldn't see, so I know how she feels. And, unfortunately, it was close to nine months before I found a doctor that was actually able to help me.

She hasn't, by any chance, used Bausch & Lomb ReNu solution, has she? A few months ago, there were reports of some sort of fungus caused by the solution (which I had used) that resulted in serious corneal problems. I, personally, was diagnosed with Thygeson's Disease that was exacerbated by the sitation, but it's something to be aware of.

Honestly, yes, she has to comply...but if she's missed a dose or two, there's nothing she can do about it to go back. She's just got to do her best to stay on top of it, and, hopefully, she's beyond the window of time that REQUIRES constant treatment and is into a recovery phase. My doctors had kept me on drops for a while, but even they admitted after a certain point that it was precautionary and just an attempt to make sure it was completely healed before moving on. Just don't let her get too lax with the dosage, cause then she'll have a much tougher time healing properly.

Good luck to her...I hope she's better soon!

 

[minkydog]

Yikes! there's not much that is more painful than corneal abrasions. DH went through a similar experience when we were first married. He nearly lost his eyesight due to the scarring. In fact, he could no long wear contacts at all.

As i'm sure you know, you'll do whatever you have to do to save your vision. We're only issued two eyes in this life, gotta take care of them. Best of luck to your daughter. i hope she's out of the woods soon

 

[DawnCt1]

Absolutely. Back in the days when there were only hard contact lenses and DH was a medical student at Tufts, a local college student dislodged her contact lens. Not having an wetting solution at the time she lubricated it with saliva and reinserted it. I know it sounds gross and it is but I have seen my friends do it countless times when I was in high school so I am familiar with the "procedure". This particular student developed eye irritation within an hour or two. A couple of hours after that she developed severe pain in her eye and went to the infirmary. The physician who examined her was alarmed and sent her to the ER at Tufts. By that evening she was undergoing an enucleation (eye removal) and fighting for her life. She was lucky to survive. Sometimes it isn't just your eye sight you can lose.

 

[froglady]

Absolutely. Back in the days when there were only hard contact lenses and DH was a medical student at Tufts, a local college student dislodged her contact lens. Not having an wetting solution at the time she lubricated it with saliva and reinserted it. I know it sounds gross and it is but I have seen my friends do it countless times when I was in high school so I am familiar with the "procedure". This particular student developed eye irritation within an hour or two. A couple of hours after that she developed severe pain in her eye and went to the infirmary. The physician who examined her was alarmed and sent her to the ER at Tufts. By that evening she was undergoing an enucleation (eye removal) and fighting for her life. She was lucky to survive. Sometimes it isn't just your eye sight you can lose.

This is EXACTLY why we won't tell her it's "OK" to skip a couple of treatments to get a little sleep. But on the other hand, she's already a wreck about it, and I hate to give her even more worse case scenarios to worry about.

It's especially tough because she's in DC and I'm down here, she just graduated from college and this is her first "real" job, real apartment, etc. She's was also concerned about cost until I told her to just send me the bills.

As to the ReNu issue, she DID use it, but her fungal cultures came back negative.

She is being followed by one of, if not THE best Opthamology departments in the country, so I'm not concerned about her care, per se. (BIL is an opthamologist) I'm just concerned that she'll get so discouraged that she'll throw in the towel without thinking things through. I know that's how my family (not DH's...they're fighters) has always reacted to this sort of thing.

I went through my last pregnancy with an "If I have to do that, it's over" sort of attitude, although when push came to shove I was an incredibly compliant patient. I hope that what I'm hearing from her is just venting about her situation, and that she truly understands that she has no choice.

But she IS only 22, and they're indestructable and we're all alarmist fuddy-duddys.

 

[hentob]

She is physically exhausted, as she hasn't had more than 2 hours of sleep since 10 days ago.

Sounds like me when my twins were babies. My children were NOT sleepers, nor were they on the same schedule. I can remember the first time I got more than 2.5 hours of sleep. I remember thinking 4 hours was a full night when they were about 3 months old. It was awful. I was a zombie.

My heart goes out to her. It is very difficult to go without sleep. Almost torture. Hugs to her

 

[momof2inPA]

She lives in DC? When I lived in DC, my commute was often 1 1/2 hours one way when the traffic was bad. She needs to keep on the routine until she's cleared, but I find it a little hard to believe there isn't an opthamologist in DC (at GW or Georgetown) who can check her eye so she doesn't have to drive to Baltimore every other day. I guess in situations like that, you have to inconvenience yourself to get the best care.

 

[Keggy]

Would it be possible for her to take a medical leave from work?

I hope everything works out for her and she is able to tough it out...

Kelly

 

[Rajah]

Okay, now you have me nervous as well. I use renu and haven't been able to wear my contacts the past few days due to irritation...

Prayers for her! I wouldn't be able to do that *and* go to work as well, I don't think.

 

[froglady]

She lives in DC? When I lived in DC, my commute was often 1 1/2 hours one way when the traffic was bad. She needs to keep on the routine until she's cleared, but I find it a little hard to believe there isn't an opthamologist in DC (at GW or Georgetown) who can check her eye so she doesn't have to drive to Baltimore every other day. I guess in situations like that, you have to inconvenience yourself to get the best care.

The DC Opthamologist SENT her to Baltimore. And now no DC Opthamologist will take her until the "pros" say they can, as she is under a doctor's treatment. I'm hoping they will clear her to be followed up closer to home soon.

Edited to add: DH asked them that last week, and they do not feel comfortable referring her to anyone in DC, and feel that changing doctors at this point would compromise her treatment. I also can't believe that there isn't anyone closer.

 

[froglady]

Would it be possible for her to take a medical leave from work?

I hope everything works out for her and she is able to tough it out...

Kelly

She started her job August 1st, and has already missed a week. It's a small art gallery, so she doesn't have any benefits, and is still in a fire at will training period. I think her boss has been extremely understanding under the circumstances, especially since he wanted her to start a few weeks earlier than she did. So he's already made allowances for her, even before this happened.
Sp it's a matter of bad timing all around, as her roomate can't take any more time off to help her. DH was up in that area last week, so he took her to one of the appointments.