Poor Little Guy Has Been Through It

Little 11 month-old, Landon, has been through it! Tuesday morning of last week, Landon woke up with a fever and what seemed like a dark tear coming out of his eye. Within a few short hours Landon’s eye started to look inflamed and swollen. I immediately set up an appointment with the Pediatrician. The doctor told me Landon has Cellulitis and its spread to the muscle tissues of the eye; hence, the dramatic swelling. I then had to hold Landon down while the nurse shot him up with some sort of muscle relaxant to aid in the swelling (huge needle – hated it). Our Pediatrician prescribed some antibiotic eye drops and made a follow up appointment for the next morning. I came home to administer the eye drops; however, there was absolutely no way Shawn and I, together, holding him down, could pry open his eye! Landon was burning up, getting chills, and looked like he'd been through a boxing match! So we sent pictures to my brother-in-law whose business partner is an anesthesiologist. He passed the pictures around, on his phone, to a team of doctors who told us we need to get to ER immediately! We rushed to the ER. Doctors and nurses got him hooked up to an IV and starting pumping him with meds. They tried several failed attempts to get the IV in his foot and both hands to finally get the IV inserted! There’s nothing worse than your little baby staring at you out of his one eye whimpering and crying while you hold him down! Then from the hours of 1 am to 3 am Landon kept pulling at his IV! Again and again, we had to bat his hands away!

Doctors told us that Cellulitis is common, but that how quickly his spread was concerning. It could even infect the deep into the eyeball and worse into the sinuses and brain. At that point, it could impede vision or be fatal. Doctors weren't sure how far it had progressed; we had to have a CT scan to determine the severity. Landon had to be strapped down while he was screaming and crying. He kept looking at us through his one good eye with a look that screams, "Why aren't you helping me? Why are you doing this to me?" A look, that we would see dozens more times over the next few days. Worst feeling in the world! The doctors and nurses were quiet during the CT scan and we just watched our little guy suffer as we waited for the results. We got the CT scan results back to find out that the infection had surrounded the eye and infected the muscle tissues around the eye, but not actually the eyeball at this point. Great news! This meant no surgery would be required and eye sight would likely not be damaged if antibiotics kick in within time to reverse the infection. No sleep Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night for us or Landon. Fever continues and swelling isn't improving. Thursday, later morning, the swelling starts to come down drastically and continues throughout the day at a speed as fast as it came on. Friday we're still in the hospital, but swelling is significantly better. So much so, that the doctors are amazed at how quickly Landon is improving. The doctors said that he had a turn around that morning. We know that was due to family and friends prayers and support. Family had requested prayers in the Temple. It was shortly after that Landon's condition turned around and improved rapidly. We don't believe for a second that it was a coincidence and we're so grateful for that blessing and the prayer of so many of you in Landon's behalf. We have been so touched by so many people's concern and love for Landon. We're so grateful for modern medicine, good doctors and nurses, and your prayers. Thank you.

Landon's eye in the morning before we saw the doctor. He couldn't even open it - it was swollen shut! Landon's eye once he could finally open it!
The only photo (from Shawn's phone) we have from the hospital once he stared improving! He could finally open his eye here!