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Friday, September 4, 2015

A Meaningful Living Room Update



You know the feeling you get when you walk into a store and your eye is immediately drawn to a piece that you just have to have?  A piece that no matter what you do you just can't get it out of your head.  It could be a rug, a picture, an amazing pillow, a unique vintage item, anything.  I got that very feeling when I was browsing online and came upon a numbered eye chart.  I had such a strong feeling about this piece and knew it would be the perfect addition to our living room.


Neutral Living Room

It might look like an ordinary eye chart to most, but to me it means more, so much more.

It's not too often that I get personal on the blog, but today I wanted to share a bit about my son's journey.  This child has no fear and is constantly keeping us on our toes.  Not only has he been rushed to the hospital for an allergic reaction, but he has also broken his clavicle, bumped and bruised his head more times than I can count and suffered through a pretty serious eye injury.  You can see why we jokingly call him crash.


It was two days before Christmas when he opened a ClosetMaid cabinet door, cutting his eye.  He was at my parents at the time, and although he cried at first he quickly bounced back to his normal curious self.

Living room update- numbered eye chart
He slept fairly well most of the night, but when he woke up the next morning his eye was swollen and he was in a lot of pain.  We took him to urgent care where we were told he had a cornea abrasion.  I thought, okay I can handle this, it's only a small cut that will heal fairly quickly.  We were given eye drops and told to follow up with a pediatric ophthalmologist the next day.

Well, he ended up becoming so extremely fussy that I called our pediatric eye Dr. and got an appointment right away.  Unfortunately,  Owen would scream whenever light got near his eye and they were unable to get a good look at his injury.  We ended up coming home with even more drops and suffered through another rough night.

The next morning was Christmas day and what should have been a happy time quickly turned into a very stressful and scary day.


I knew something was not right as soon as Owen woke up.  His eye was worse and his pupil, which should have been black was cloudy and gray.  We couldn't even turn the lights on or open the blinds without him screaming.  We called our eye Dr and left a message on the emergency line explaining his symptoms.  He called us back immediately and said he was very concerned and to meet at his office right away.  Christmas morning was put on hold while we rushed to meet the doctor.


With much kicking and screaming the doctor was finally able to see the extent of his injuries.  It wasn't just a cornea abrasion, it was worse.  He had cut his cornea straight down the middle and it was deep, very deep.  Given that it was Christmas morning the doctor was unable to reach a cornea surgeon in the area.  We were once again given more medication and were to meet the cornea surgeon at the hospital the next day. 

The surgeon was able to get a good look an estimated his cornea was cut about 70% through.  Best case scenario it would heal with only a minor scar, worse case he would need surgery or possibly a cornea transplant.   We spent the next week in and out of the hospital making sure his eye was healing properly.

It was a long few weeks and months as we went back and forth to the cornea surgeon an eye doctor every couple weeks for about a year.   He was supposed to wear an eye patch on his good eye to force his bad eye to work harder, but that didn't go over too well.  Try making a toddler wear an eye patch and see how that goes.  Getting him to sit still for his 3-4 different eye medications 3 times a day was enough of a challenge.    

Gauze and tape ended up being the only thing to work, but that just looked ridiculous.  

We ended up using prescription dilating drops every fews day for about a year.  This forced his bad eye to work harder since his good eye was dilated and blurry most of the time. 

Living room update- A meaningful eye chart

Over the course of the last few years Owen has spent many hours in the doctors office reading eye charts and getting his eye examined.  Slowly, his eye started to heal and the scar reduced. Thankfully, he managed to escape surgery and any major lasting effects from his accident.  He still has a scar and his vision isn't perfect, but it could have been much worse.   It was a scary time for our family and we are thankful everyday that things turned out as well as they did.  
Neutral living room

Living room update-meaningful eyechart

Adding meaningful art to the living room
The numbered eye chart is more than just a piece of art that completes our living room.  Not only do I love numbers (hello, I have a number 4 in almost every room), but It's a constant reminder of how far my son has come and how precious life is.   It's more than just a piece of art, it tells a story about our family and that is exactly what I want from the items in our home.

I was given product from Wayfair.com, all opinions are my own. 

Would you like to comment?

  1. I've been reading for under a year and love your style and now my 2 entry doors are Iron Ore as well :-).
    This post meant a lot. My teen was blind in one eye as a toddler and we had to patch for 4 years and sooo many doctors and specialist... My heart hurt for you reading this post. My teen sees fine now with a contact and God blessed us through it all...so glad your son is OK and has healthy eyes. Now I want an eye chart, too.

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  2. Oh Katie, my heart just dropped reading your story. How incredibly scary for you and your family! I'm SO, SO happy to hear that Owen is doing well now. LOVE the eye chart and the story behind it friend.

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  3. Aw your poor little guy! So glad he's doing better now and I love the meaning behind the eye chart. I loved it when I first saw it and love it even more now!

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  4. Oh Katie, I can't imagine how scary that must have been! Poor Owen! That's just awful. The artwork for your living room is an amazing reminder of his journey to healing. So thankful he's recovered so well.

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  5. So glad that cutie is on the mend...what a trial for all of you. When I read you call your adorable son "crash", I remembered a fellow I used to work with. Although we were both licensed insurance agents, he kind of looked down his nose at me because I answered phones and did some secretarial work. One day a nurse came into the office to give him a physical for a life insurance policy he was personally applying for. The nurse took him into the back room to perform the mini physical...the next thing I hear is a loud thud and the nurse ran for the restroom and came out with wet paper towels. It seems this (rather snotty) guy fainted at the sight of his own blood being drawn..passed out cold and hit the floor. I know it was bad manners, but I ran for the restroom, too, to have a good laugh. From then on I called him "Crash"!

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  6. Oh my goodness, Katie! I can't imagine going through all that. I'm so glad he's doing much better now. As much as it pained me to read what you went through, I had to laugh a bit picturing you taping the patch on his face :). Oh and btw, the eye chart is awesome.

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  7. nothing in this world and i mean nothing is worse than watching your child suffer and you can do nothing xx

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  8. Urgent Care...UGH! My daughter was misdiagnosed too and ended up going in the next day for emergency gall bladder surgery. I do have pieces inside and out that remind of some precious event in life too. I'm so happy Owen (and his parents) made it through. I do not envy your up and coming years with Mr. Adventure - LOL. Good Luck!

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  9. Awesome post! I would love to invite you to my new link party The Beautifully Creative Inspired. The party launched on Friday and will continue every Fridays at 9AM eastern time on 5 BLOGS! It runs until Wednesday night :D Hope you can party with us!

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  10. How fun that you found art to remind you of the progress your son has made. Most people would avoid a reminder; I admire that you wanted it front and center. I'm not sure if you realize, but this number is pi. The only reason I recognized it was from seeing it quite a bit over the past year as my daughter and her husband were married on 3-14-15 - pi day!

    Hope your son gives you a break from emergency room visits :)

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