Temporary (Self-Imposed) Blindness

“It’s always something” has become the metaphor for my life, although in my mind it’s more like “It’s always f-ing something.”  I wonder if the cemetery would let me put that on my tombstone.  The problem is, I don’t have any wiggle-room in my schedule for the next “something,” so when something happens, I don’t have a lot of patience.  Ok – I have NO patience.

Last week was my first week back at work after the summer craziness.  I have been working all summer of course, but also trying to juggle everything else while working from home every day.  Last week I started training a new person on my team, and had to be in the office to work with him.  Monday I had all 3 kids at home waiting for 2 of them to start school on Tuesday, so I had taken the day off.  Tuesday actually went fairly smoothly, at least in my definition of “smoothly.”  Wednesday we had a problem finding child care for Norah (she starts school this Wednesday), so I ended up taking her to work with me for 3 hours (the productivity took a hit and by now the trainee has probably formed an impression of me that I don’t really want to think about).  Thursday I was at the office when I got a call from the school nurse to tell me that a bug flew into Adlani’s eye IN THE CLASSROOM, and he was hysterical.  I had to leave work early and go get him.

According to the ophthalmologist, Adlani has sensitive corneas which get scratched easily.  He also has PTSS from the time Norah poked him in the eye with a pencil at point-blank range.  When that happened he kept both eyes closed for 48 hours and I was amazed.  A bug in the eye is a little less serious than a direct hit from a pencil, so I didn’t think the self-imposed blindness would last as long.  Again and again, I am proven wrong.

Friday I worked from home while Adlani laid in bed ALL DAY.  He didn’t even ask to get up, just laid there with his eyes closed.  Friday’s “something” was that Henry (the cat) escaped again and had several hours of freedom while I roamed the backyard and under neighbors’ porches looking for him.

Saturday morning we had to drive to Londonderry NH for Aliya’s soccer tournament.  Adlani still wouldn’t open his eyes, and sat in a chair on the sidelines all day.  He missed out on swimming in the hotel pool and playing with the younger siblings of Aliya’s team-mates.  He didn’t watch TV or play with his new Nintendo 3DS.  We tried everything from bribery to threats of violence – no dice.

Sunday morning we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  Still blind.  By this time I was pissed at Ben for totally enabling him (see below).  Why would the kid ever open his friggin eyes if he was being led around and hand-fed all of his meals?  It’s pretty amazing though that closing his eyes could make him calm enough to sit still for entire days.  Kind of like the towel over the bird cage.  Maybe I could invent some sort of calming glasses for extremely active kids.  I certainly have enough test subjects at my disposal.

Day 2 of the tournament – still blind.  All day.  That night we had dinner with our neighbors, and my very wise friend and next-door neighbor Nancy gave me the idea of using a placebo to convince him that his eye was all better (the threats of developing gangrene hadn’t worked).  I came back from Walgreens with the “special medicine” called in by Dr. Whitman (not), which was guaranteed to work in 5 minutes.  Too bad it wasn’t a money-back guarantee because I could get my 10 bucks back.  So, blind through dinner, and off to bed.  The “something” from that event was when Norah gave our neighbors “the finger.”  Seri0usly, I don’t know where she’s getting this stuff, and why she thinks anything goes.  She did it again this morning, and she’s also in big trouble because after adjusting the temperature of the refrigerator and freezer many times (and getting in escalating levels of trouble each time), today she turned them completely off.  It’s always f-ing something.

Anyway, back to the blind boy.  Today is Day 5, and tomorrow it’s back to school and work.  I woke up with renewed determination and there was no way in hell that this was going to continue for another day.  After bribing him with a doughnut, and an egg and cheese bagel from Cafe Fresh Bagel, he finally opened them.  It took about a half hour but his sight has now been miraculously restored.

What’s next?

Here are a few shots from Aliya’s tournament.  The Flash won 2, lost 1, and tied 1.  They played really well, especially for a team that has only had a couple of practices together.  We’re looking forward to a great season.