Recurrent Corneal Erosion

Two years ago I was playing with Jackson on the floor, tickling him to make him laugh that adorable laugh, when all of the sudden in such quickness his hand reached out to me scraping my eye with his very sharp baby fingernail. I thought, ok this really really hurts, but hmmm...this should go away in a minute, right? Nope, after 15 minutes of extreme pain, and I'm not exaggerating, I decided I should go see a Dr. It reminded me of a similar eye pain I had 3 years before but much more intense. This was not normal, the shuddering pain, excessive tearing and the inability to open my eye. So I called my sweet friend Karen Robinson who drove me to the Dr. and watched Jackson while I was in there.

When I arrived they put a little drop of Heaven in my eye numbing it. They dyed it revealing the gruesome cut Jackson made with his perfect little fingers. I explained that something similar but to a lesser degree had happened many years ago upon waking up which led them to investigate seeing if I had an underlying condition, potentially causing this wound to not heal correctly. They diagnosed me with Recurrent Corneal Erosion caused by the underlying condition Map Dot Dystrophy. This meant that more than likely the healing process for the scrape would be quite long and they were right. The first day they tried a thick antibiotic ointment and artificial tears, but when I arrived the next morning unable to hide my tears of pain they put a porous "bandage" contact over my eye so that as my eyelid brushed over my eye it wouldn't be continually rubbing on the unattached epithelial layer of my cornea. You'd think just keeping your eye closed would work, but you'd be amazed how frequently your eyeball moves under your lid even when you're desperately trying to keep it still.

Typically when a corneal abrasion occurs like the one from my scratch it takes up to 6-8 weeks of diligence with sodium chloride drops, antibiotic drops and artificial tears, which is a long recovery, but a recovery nonetheless. Unfortunately with my Map Dot Dystrophy the layers of my eyes do not heal correctly causing the top layer of my cornea to slough off very easily. I use preventative drops at night so that upon waking I can decrease the amount of times that the flap of the cut won't be pulled away from that top layer. I actually have trained myself to wake up "one eyed Jennifer," and put drops in my right eye before opening it. About every couple of months I experience about 30 min. of discomfort in the morning, but usually if given the opportunity can sleep it off and reawaken feeling much better.

As I was putting Jackson down for a nap this afternoon, he reached his arm back just like he always does to twirl my hair as I read him a story. This time he barely and I mean barely brushed my eyelashes, which subsequently brushed my eye and unfortunately the flap reopened causing unbearable immediate pain. "Mommy ok, Mommy ok?" "Not really baby, but I will be." And then I asked him to be a big boy and sing himself to sleep in his crib and he did. I raced downstairs to put in drops, to try to lay down to sleep it off, but after 5 min. of excruciating pain I decided I needed to see the Dr. So I speed dialed friends and found one to listen for Jackson while he napped and one to take me to the Dr. since I couldn't open my eyes up enough at that point to see to drive. Thank you Laura and Kristy!

A little drop of Heaven was what I craved and I got it, plus 2 more that I weaseled out of the Dr. She probably thinks I'm an addict and I can't say that I'm not. Man I wish they sold a prescription of that. I was told that yes, the original scrape had been lifted up which I already knew so we're following the same procedure as last time. A bandage contact with antibiotic drops this weekend and then on Monday they'll remove it after partial healing and continue with a thick ointment, sodium chloride (salt water - yes not fun), and artificial tears. The pain right now is manageable, but unfortunately they were out of non power contacts so the exaggerating blurred vision is causing a bad headache along with the dull pain under the contact. On Monday we're having a consultation with Dr.s to discuss any other possible options, because this recurring thing really stinks. Hopefully I'll be feeling even better tomorrow.

I think I need summarization practice because my blogs are always so long. I'll have to work on that.