So worried about my Sons eyesight.

lindos90

Almost two weeks ago my son injured his eye at school. (hit in the eye with a table tennis ball while he was waiting to play badminton after school)-sounds funny but its not.

The school didnt let me know straight away, but called me and asked me to collect him, rather than walk home as he was in pain, and casually told me 'it might be worth popping to his GP for them to take a look at it'.

The front of his eye (where the iris and pupil is) totally filled up with blood, it went completely black and he could not see. I spoke to the GP practice, they said I should go straight to the hospital.

Most days since then he has had to visit the hospital eye clinic. They say that due to a rupture his pupil may never reduce back to the correct size, and he may have long term visual problems, but at this stage they dont know how bad this will be.:(

He has over 20 eye drops in per day, and has been put on betablockers as the hospital have tried to control and reduce the pressure in his eye. Most of the blood has slowly 'drained' but behind that, his pupil is dilated. He has had a thoroughly miserable half term, as he was told to 'take it easy' and not even read (as he woud have to move his eye) ..they were concerned he may restart the bleeding in his eye.

Today I did the wrong thing, I googled 'hyphema' and found out that such an injury can lead to glaucoma and cateracts:(. Im just feeling thoroughly down about it, and fell so sorry for him, sorry if I have put this in the wrong place, but just wanted to get it off my chest.

meritaten

oh dear - a severe case of 'googling'. hun, the operative word is 'can'! I know its a possibility, but all you can do is ensure your son follows medical advice and his eye heals normally! if not, then cross that bridge when you come to it????????? dont go building that bridge too!
I hope your son makes a full recovery.
best wishes
merit

Rikki

Googling can sometimes be a bad thing. Too much information and quite likely unrelated to your sons exact problems can make you worry. Just stick with what the hospital say and tell you what to do.

I hope your son is feeling better soon. He needs love and hugs. He has no idea how things are only what he feels now. You have to be brave for him.

lindos90

meritaten wrote: »

oh dear - a severe case of 'googling'. hun, the operative word is 'can'! I know its a possibility, but all you can do is ensure your son follows medical advice and his eye heals normally! if not, then cross that bridge when you come to it????????? dont go building that bridge too!
I hope your son makes a full recovery.
best wishes
merit

Thank you,You are quite right, I should not assume its going to happen. I am quite a worrier, especially about my kids! He also has asthma, and I have another who has a nut allergy so theres alot to think about!

Parents never stop worrying do they? My mum is worried about me worrying!

lindos90

Rikki wrote: »

Googling can sometimes be a bad thing. Too much information and quite likely unrelated to your sons exact problems can make you worry. Just stick with what the hospital say and tell you what to do.

I hope your son is feeling better soon. He needs love and hugs. He has no idea how things are only what he feels now. You have to be brave for him.

Hes 12, so not that keen on hugs any more, his main concern is when will he be allowed back on his Xbox! Kids hey?

Im miffed that the kids were thrashing table tennis balls about the gym unsupervised, it should not have happened!

Im just counting my blessings though, that we went in the 'walking wounded' side of A&E, there must be some mums on the 'stretcher' side who wish their son only had an eye injury.

Intergalactic_Floozie

My son suffered the same injury when he was 6, and he got whacked in the eye with a tennis ball.

We went straight up to A&E and they said this injury was rare in a youngster because it is associated with racket sports. They said the eye is like a sieve and because blood is thicker than water the eye could not sieve the blood as fast as the water. They said it would all drain away eventually but he had to lie as flat as he could for as long as he could to help the draining. They said it would take up to three weeks but it had all gone in less than 14 days. They did tell me as worst case scenario he could develop glaucoma because of the increased pressure so he now just has to have his eyes tested every two years. He's 14 now and there have been no associated problems (yet, touch wood).

lindos90

Intergalactic_Floozie wrote: »

My son suffered the same injury when he was 6, and he got whacked in the eye with a tennis ball.

We went straight up to A&E and they said this injury was rare in a youngster because it is associated with racket sports. They said the eye is like a sieve and because blood is thicker than water the eye could not sieve the blood as fast as the water. They said it would all drain away eventually but he had to lie as flat as he could for as long as he could to help the draining. They said it would take up to three weeks but it had all gone in less than 14 days. They did tell me as worst case scenario he could develop glaucoma because of the increased pressure so he now just has to have his eyes tested every two years. He's 14 now and there have been no associated problems (yet, touch wood).

Thanks floozy, Sounds like you had some good advice. Every time we have been we have seen a diferent doctor, who have advised different things. I wish they had told us to lay him on his back, he went to sleep the first night on his side and woke up with a vertical semicircle of blood, which looked really odd, as it didnt flatten to the bottom again!

Yes they have said high pressure may be an issue in the future, they were very worried about it as every time they tested it, it was just getting higher.

Rikki

lindos90 wrote: »

Hes 12, so not that keen on hugs any more, his main concern is when will he be allowed back on his Xbox! Kids hey?

Im miffed that the kids were thrashing table tennis balls about the gym unsupervised, it should not have happened!

Im just counting my blessings though, that we went in the 'walking wounded' side of A&E, there must be some mums on the 'stretcher' side who wish their son only had an eye injury.

They grow out of that stage too and like hugs again. Nice for us Mums.

Nicki

If you are near London have you thought about having him seen at Moorfields? Even if you aren't they do have an A and E advice line for parents worried about their children's sight.

lindos90

Rikki wrote: »

They grow out of that stage too and like hugs again. Nice for us Mums.

Oh I hope so! It took me till I was about 40 to give my mum hugs abd kisses:o. (Must have done it when I was younger). My husband lost both his parents within a year and I realised that one day my mum would not be there to hug, so I started doing it! (think she gets more embarrased than me now!)

Intergalactic_Floozie

It was a nightmare trying to keep him lying down flat, and I had a newborn baby at the time too. At least a 12-year-old would have some understanding of the seriousness of it (or then again....). I'd leave him lying flat on the sofa when I went to make a bottle, or something, and come back in to find him leaping off the settee (not the baby lol).

I think also anything to do with other people, you do worry more about than you would do if it were yourself as you have no control over the matter. Hopefully in a couple of weeks it'll all clear up, and he'll be discharged from hospital with no worse than annual eye tests. Let us know how he gets on.