Be strong, Mom!

First, I have to give credit where credit is do. This post is inspired by another iMom. You can read her experience here. I was so intrigued by her post on Instagram that I had to try it for myself.

When she says it packs a punch... it sure does, like a sucker punch. I've always counted my blessings knowing Mallory was fortunate to have had eyesight before the cataract. We avoided the contacts, the drops and the multiple patches a day drama (and a lot of tears).  So here's my imom confession: Because I know how fortunate we are in this journey, I often give Mallory a hard time for giving me a hard time. Honestly, she patches for 2 hours a day! No drops, no contacts.  Stick it on, play with play-doh, watch Doc McStuffiins, drive mom crazy with 'Can I take it off now?'  How hard could this really be? (I can hear your gasps of shock by this unsympathetic imom confession. I didn't say I was proud of it)

Here's my other iMom confession: I GET IT! I (almost) totally get why this is hard, really hard, even for just 2 hours a day. And here's why:

Day 1
I decided to try this out late in the morning.  I was heading to school for Together Time with Mallory and thought it would be a perfect opportunity.  She gave me a hard time at first, but then thought is was pretty neat she could pick out the patch for me to 'wear.'  Off to school we went.   She went to class and I went about my duties of PTA mom and epi-imom, stopping to talk with teachers, secretaries, the nurse. Several times people would glance at the patch on my hand, but only once did someone say something.  'Hey nice band-aid.'  I left it at that. Next stop was Mallory's room. At first, she was embarrassed by me having it on my hand, but then she forgot about.  And guess what- NOT one child or parent mentioned anything about it.  Nothing. I saw a few glances and was mentally  preparing my answers to their questions, but no questions were asked. Interesting.
Mallory took the patch off for me that night and as she's carefully peeling it away from skin she says 'Be strong, Mom.  This doesn't hurt.' She then placed it on her patching chart.  I felt like I earned a gold star for the day.

Day 2
I did this the following day because it was a day I worked.  My job is in mental health and requires me to be in people's home.  I wanted to see if their responses would be different.  And they were.   No one was afraid to ask about the patch.  Many commented on my nice band-aid or asked if I had some kind of procedure done.  I spent 8 hours sharing Mallory's story, our story.  And you know what, there were times I became self-conscious.  I would use my coat sleeve to cover it up if I thought someone was noticing it.  I didn't want to answer any more questions, I didn't want anyone noticing it me.  I didn't want to be different. I didn't want the patch on anymore. It was annoying. It was pulling.  I wanted it off.  But then, in the back of my mind, I heard this little voice say, 'Be strong, Mom.'  So I soldiered on and proudly displayed my patch, shared our story.

Blog after blog I read how amazing how ikids are and that they are iwarriors and they totally are.  Every day Mallory gets up and puts her patch and glasses on and lives life through the sight of one eye for two hours.  Every day, for two hours, she knows she's different. Every day we, as iMoms, know our kids are different, and we are making a difference in the life of our ikids.  We barter. We argue. We cry. We console.  Every day we soldier on.  Every. day.  If our amazing little ikids can do this then so can we! In the words from my four year old....

Be strong, iMoms! Be strong!

I have an honorary spot on the patching chart .Wonder if I'll get a reward too?

Jitters

I'm not sure what is worse the anticipation for eye appointments or the allergist appointments.  I get the pre-appointment jitters for the eye appointments because I don't know what they are going to tell me.  Is the eye still the same? Are her pressures good?  Will we increase or decrease patching time?  Anything could change.  For the allergist appointments, I get the pre-appointment jitters, because NOTHING is going to change. He will ALWAYS be severely allergic to peanuts and he will ALWAYS have asthma.  Allergist appointments are reality in full color. They are the appointments that tell me no matter what I do, I can't make this better or make it go away.
Overall, the appointment went well.  Peanut allergy is the same and we are to continue avoidance of peanuts and all nuts when we are in public.
Asthma is hit or miss.  This beautiful WNY weather is terrible for is asthma.  We are currently using both his  maintenance inhaler and his rescue inhaler.  This will likely continue until June.  At least I now know what are likely triggers for him and what helps.  We will continue with our current treatment and follow up in a year.
Proud mom moment at the visit:  The allergist told Nick he seemed very mature for his age regarding his allergy and asthma.  It's nice to hear.  It's not that I take credit for it,. Nick has had this since he was 8 months old so he knows no other way.   It just reinforces that we are doing something right with educating and trying to teach him responsibility.
While the appointment went well, real life living with a peanut allergy gets harder for me.  We try to do 'normal' things, but as he gets older, it gets harder.  Easter Sunday we decided to stay for brunch at church.  BIG mistake.  The brunch was great, but Nick couldn't eat anything, but fruit.  And at 8, he's just not that satisfied with fruit for breakfast.  There were peanuts/nuts on almost everything and the food that didn't have nuts were sitting next nut filled food.  We graciously at our fruit, excused ourselves and headed off to McDonalds.  So sometimes trying to do normal things, just doesn't work.  I'll keep practicing and by the time he graduates, it will all be normal :)

The EYE has taught me that accessorizing is cool (even for boys). Here's a shout out to two of our favorite 'accessories':

A pencil case from PBTeen (I love that store).  Seriously, this case only cost $3.99 (personalization is $7) and can hold 2 epi-pens, 2 inhalers, a spacer, 4 doses of single dose Benadryl and 4 packets of handi-wipes. It goes where ever we go and can clip onto bags.

Survival straps is our latest Medical ID purchase.  Some argue that it looks too fashionable and can't easily be identified as a Medical Alert bracelet.  I say, whatever he'll wear consistently is much better than the bracelet laying on his dresser.  Survival straps lets you  custom design the bracelet. So, of course, his bracelet is the color of our monster truck.  And the price isn't too bad.

Photo courtesy of Survival Straps.com