The Stairs and The Eye Spot

My children are burned from the sun today.   And before I get in trouble for being a bad parent, we did our best to put sunscreen on them.   But we missed spots.   We also apparently missed the reapplication window and the result is they got more sun in a few spots and a decent bit of sun all over.  

We have shirts for them, with my daughter having a long-sleeved shirt that’s high on her neck but we missed the very backs of her legs at the top where her bathing suit is.   My son’s forearms are red.   And my daughter’s nose got too much sun and she wanted to have a band aid on it today to give it extra protection from the sun (which was cute to look at).

My daughter has a mental map of the world around her, but when she gets to some place new she has to map it all out and then use that with the remaining vision she has to move around safely.   She’s been to Nana and Papa’s every spring of her life and she knows their little back yard pool well.   But it’s been a year and a year is a long time for a six-year-old.

My daughter was on the perimeter of the pool yesterday moving slowly.   Historically when she had first lost her vision, she would hop around on all fours because it was a safer position for her.    Now she knows how to use her hands and walk carefully to investigate her surroundings.   She was walking towards the far side of the pool when she said aloud to me while pointing, “I remember there were stairs there”.  

She was correct.   I told her the two steps were still there and that there was a volleyball net tied to the fence she should feel for in the same area.    So she did.   And now she navigates around the area with ease, although slowly and carefully every time.

Then today in the hot tub my daughter suddenly said, “I can’t see out of my left eye”.   I started to panic internally, because that’s her one working eye.   But my daughter wasn’t overly upset.   She rolled her eye around and had a conversation with us about how she could and then couldn’t see.   She said it had just started and that there was something in her eye that was moving around, blocking her vision from time to time, “but it’s gone now”.

Am I concerned?  Yes.   We’re watching it though because it doesn’t seem to be there all the time and she isn’t worried about it.   She can still see to the extent she normally does.   She hasn’t had any head trauma, but her vasculation isn’t normal which makes her prone to bleeds under trauma.    We’re increasing the dosage of steroid drops and we’ll watch it.   Hopefully it will go away.

The Big Boy Update:  My son was asked us yesterday, “what’s half past never?”

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was telling me about something she was watching.   She said, “I don’t like the purse fart of it.   I mean the first part of it.”