Sunday, October 25, 2009

The sty that would not die.

I'm sure that I have mentioned to you before that the official burden upon my family is pus.

Sometimes the pus arrives via a quaint and timeless abscess. Other times it emerges in the more menacing form of a sty.

I am going to trust that my clever readers know what a sty is. Feel free to google it. DO NOT GOOGLE IMAGES! I cannot stress this point strongly enough!

Rebecca began being plagued with a herd of sties this summer. Treating her sties was a bit like playing whack a mole with antibiotic ointment. One would clear up and another would appear. Victory was always fleeting. Finally it seemed that we were winning. They all disappeared except for one stubborn sty.

This particular pustule did not respond to the first line of antibiotic ointment. A trip to the doctor gave us new ammunition in the form of super duper mega antibiotic.

We smugly began applying it, already savoring the defeat of our viscous villain.

The sty snickered. I swear it.

And to prove its point it began to grow its own blood vessels.

Back to the pediatrician we went. She put up her white flag and sent us to a specialist.

By now Rebecca and I were battered, but not hopeless. Our dream of a sty-free eye seemed more tangible than ever when our new doctor prescribed an antibiotic with a steroid- that's right a steroid!

We began our new regimen with the devotion of the desperate. The warm compresses were applied, the sty lanced and the ointment slathered.

The sty grew bigger. The vessels expanded. It mocked us with its virility.

Tomorrow our war against the sty will end. Rebecca will be having it surgically removed. While medicine was no match for the sty, the mighty scalpel will bring us certain victory.

She is nervous, but she is also incredibly eager to be rid of what is slowly becoming an appendage on her eyelid.

Please keep us in your thoughts tomorrow morning for an effective removal of the sty and a speedy recovery- and as always, send chocolate.

5 comments:

sarah said...

Aww, poor kid! I'm sure she'll be glad to be rid of it. *Of course* best wishes for a quick recovery!!

gretchen from lifenut said...

Poor kiddo! Sending healing thoughts. Who knew a sty could grow like that?

Anonymous said...

The nice thing about kids is when they get lanced they are free to scream. Back in college my roommate got a boil that he knew he needed lanced. As we were walking over to the health clinic, he had a worried look on his face. I told him It was going to hurt but it should be that bad. He said he didn't have a problem with the pain, he was worried about all the 4 lettered words that would come out of his mouth during the procedure. The doctors apparently took him to the sound proof lancing room since I didn't hear a thing.

Ginger said...

Rebecca, be brave!! I hope the darn sty is gone for good. I've only had a couple in my lifetime, but they sure do hurt.
My mom had an old time remedy she thought was a sure cure, she would rub a gold ring over it. I think it was just a coincidence that the sty left...not the gold ring.

Lisa said...

I would send chocolate but you may not share with Rebecca and come on she is the one having surgery! hehe
Glad all went well! And that someone brought chocolate!
Hugs, Lisa