Waiting Office Rules

The bear cub has to have a couple of eye surgeries. The first one was done a week ago and was to open the tear ducts. Her pediatrician suggested this when she was very young because every morning I would have to use a damp cloth to wipe her eyes of all the crust on them so that she could actually open her eyes. I had asked if it was hurting her any or a danger to her and they had told me it wasn't so I passed on the surgery. She had to have it now, though, in order to have the second surgery because it causes a greater chance of infection if it hasn't been fixed. The surgery has a success rate of 95% and from the bear cub's follow up appointment, it looks like she falls in the 5% group and will need to have it performed again. Despite her ducts still being too small, she is orders of magnitude better. They had to open a space in her sinus cavities in order to get to the tear ducts and because of this, she seems to be happier and breathe easier in addition to having more room to hold tears. The doctor gave us appointment in six weeks to look at her again and see if she improves any without surgery before discussing moving forward. The second type of surgery she needs is to cut and realign the muscles in her eyes so that they see level which will result in her holding her head straight instead of at the tilt she currently has.

I'm currently fighting a sinus infection and have a doctor's appointment later today. I've spent a lot of time waiting in doctor's offices lately with the three girls and these are the rules I'd like to implement:

15 minutes: I pull out the cheerios or other snack that isn't too messy.
30 minutes: I pull out a messier snack, something along the lines of an orange or juicy plum. I also stop trying to control any screaming or noise making.
45 minutes: I pull out permanent markers and paper to let the girls draw on.
1 hour: I take away the paper and rest my eyes.

I'd give them caffeine, but I know they'd then see me right away and I'd be stuck with three hyped up little girls and have to deal with them myself. Maybe I'll pull out the caffeinated drinks for second time offenders.