We are currently patching William for about 60% of the day - so the patch goes on at about 7 am and doesn't come off until about 4 pm (he has two naps of about 1 1/2 to 2 hrs per day). He had started to pull the patch off and we'd go through about 3 a day but that seems to have stopped - for now. I believe patch pulling becomes more and more prevalent as they get older so I am storing up ideas from other mums what to do when you go through boxes and boxes of patches as they rip them off every time you put them on!
I've been thinking about what to say to all the kids out there that keep on asking what happened to his eye. It's easy to explain to adults but kids really just want to know what kind of accident he had. At the moment I just tell them that he had an operation and they look at me nod and move on but you can see they don't quite get that. One of these days (if I can be bothered) I'll try and explain that he was blind in one eye at birth and then the Drs operated on him and now he can see out of that eye as long as we patch the good eye. Seems so complicated and kids want a quick answer!
At the moment its getting harder and harder to put William's contact back in when we take it out for a clean. This morning I'm sure we've bruised his eye - poor little man. He fights us trying to hold him down and his little eyelids are sooooo strong - Jason pulls at the top lid I pull at the bottom and we try and pry it open 1 or 2 mm to slip the contact in. It takes a few goes as its not that easy to get in when he's trying to wriggle around and scream and cry. I can see this getting harder and harder before it gets easier.
We have also found out that William is allergic to a few foods. I tried him on egg a few weeks ago and a rash started appearing around his neck and chin. The ambulance arrived but the rash went away and that was that. I went to the doctor to get some blood tests done and they came back as allergic to Wheat and Cows Milk (low) Egg and Soy (Med) and Peanut (High). The Peanut thing is weird as I have been feeding him peanut butter sandwiches since he was 8 months old so not sure what's going on there. The Dr said not to worry about the milk and wheat though as it was such a low reading. We are off to see a pediatrician to find out if we should still feed him peanut butter sandwiches etc. Its interesting about Soy as I only drink Soy Milk and he stopped getting really bad excema on his cheeks when I stopped breastfeeding him - to think all this time I was poisoning him - argghhh!
William will be 1 year old in 2 weeks time and I find it hard to believe that a year has gone by since his birth. If someone had told me this time last year that I was going to have a baby that had one eye smaller than the other, was required to wear a contact, had to be patched every day and got stared at everywhere we went - I would have said - Nope I can't deal with a baby like that! But we have managed! Every week we have to take out the little contact and put it back in and every day as soon as I see my little baby I slap on that patch and get on with the day stares and all!
