Landon's Eye

So here's the eye injury story...

One Sunday afternoon in late January, I put Steve in charge of getting the boys down for naps. Landon is, and always has been, impossible to put down for a nap. This day, he told Steve he (Landon) was a smart alec (sp?). They were horsing around a bit, and Steve was going to thump him on the forehead. Landon turned at the same second he did, and Steve thumped him right in the eye.

I didn't know anything of the story until Monday when the white of Landon's eye continued to get more and more red. I told Steve I thought Landon was getting an eye infection, but I was corrected and Steve told me what happened. Neither of us really thought it was that big of a deal, but now we know different. By Tuesday night, Landon was really bothered by his eye. He said it felt like he had an eyelash in it and it hurt to be in the bright light. I tried to get him to leave it alone, but that's hard when you have an itchy eye.

I put Landon and Cohen in the shower after dinner and got Grey undressed to bathe him, as well. I went in to make sure they were getting soaped up before I started Greys' bath and Landon looked up at me, panic in his eyes, and said "Mommy, my eye is all silly and I can't see very well." As I looked into his eye, the entire iris and pupil were full of blood. I was alone and I totally panicked. I instructed him to hurry and get out of the shower, which he did, soap and all. Cohen was upset because he didn't want to get out, Grey was naked, Landon was freaked out and I was alone. I quickly called my neighbor and asked if she could take Co and Grey. I dressed the kids, I called Steve and told him to meet me at the ER and then my sweet boy and I fell to our knees and prayed. A calm came over me and I was sure all would be okay.

At the ER, they were "amazed" he could even see at all through all the blood. I wasn't amazed. I knew why! There is no opthamologist at the ER, so we were advised to go home. They gave us some eye drops and we were sent to a specialist the next day.

Landon was placed on the strictest bed rest you have ever heard of. No walking, no reading, no video games, no toys, no movement. Only TV watching was allowed to focus and rest the eye or sleep. This lasted 4 days. It could have been some of the craziest days I will ever remember. It is hard to remember at 6 to sit still, not to turn your head, not to get up and walk to the bathroom when you need to go. It was hard. Landon also had to wear an eye patch for 2 weeks. When we went to the specialist the first day, he was not encouraging. The damage to the eye was severe. His vision was 20/100, and it was still bleeding. Not good! We went back daily for the next 4 days. Small improvement each day were made. By Saturday things were healed, but his vision was not improving. We went back a week later and his vision was 20/30... near perfect. We still need to be seen one more time, but we are grateful for the power of prayer and the power of the priesthood. I knew the night it all happened that it would be okay. At one point I thought he may end up having to wear glasses, but to me, that was still okay. It was a good possibility that he could have lost his vision entirely. We are grateful for the blessing Steve was able to give him and for the lesson it taught Landon in faith and prayer. We will never forget the Spirit we felt during those few weeks.