Cornea takes the Gold!

So this past Saturday morning, Gav was in his swing and started crying out of the blue. Upon picking him up & examining him, we immediately noticed that his poor little right eye looked very raw, red, and swollen. He kept whimpering in pain and it soon became obvious to us that he might have accidentally scratched himself in the eye while in his swing. We immediately brought him to be seen by the on-call Dr. She did this diagnostic test where yellow dye is dropped in the affected eye, and then a blacklight is used to examine it. When she did this, my heart broke into a million pieces and I wanted to cry; The Dr. didn't even have to point out the obvious, 1/2 of an M & M sized sliver of bright yellow dye in the center of his eye, signifying a large tear. Even the Dr. said that this was a pretty "big gouge" and that we may have to see a Pediatric Opthamologist. She sent us home with antibiotic ointment and told us to give the little guy Tylenol as needed since this was "definitely extremely painful."
I felt so helpless, so sick for him. Definitely ranked on the very top of the "I would give anything to switch places with my child and take all of their pain away" list.
Anywho, Saturday & Sunday were pretty rough days, as he was still in tons of pain, his eye was watering profusely, and he winced in pain any time he attempted to open it past a squint.




Well, this morning we had our follow-up with the Dr. and were definitely expecting the worst-- to be referred over to the Opthamologist for further evaluation of this "massive gouge."
So, same thing again....yellow dye, blacklight, and...
"Where's the spot?" I quickly asked the Dr.
She, too, saw nothing at all and quickly determined that she had not used enough dye. So, blacklight off, more yellow dye, blacklight back on, and take two...But still, nothing.
"Wow," the Dr. said to me as we stared into Gavin's eyes in the blacklight. "Unbelievable. It's gone-- completely healed. His little body knew to produce another cornea in less than 48 hours-- how amazing is that!"
"Amazing," I parroted, entranced by the electric blue that illuminated Gavin's eyes in front of me.
She switched the lights back on and my heart instantly melted in the realization that we wouldn't have to go see a specialist, that my little trooper was no longer in pain, and that his tiny little eye healed perfectly fine on his own.
As the Dr. was leaving the room, she said to me, "Just so you know, I certainly wasn't expecting today's visit to go this well-- especially considering the size of the abrasion 2 days ago. It was one of the biggest I've seen in a baby his size. You have one strong little boy on your hands!"
With that, I picked up my little boy, smothered him with kisses & tickles until he giggled his contagious belly laugh, and we headed home.

In conclusion, I'd like to make a quick little shout-out: Cornea,you have officially amazed me, and you pretty much rock for knowing how to regenerate like that. (Well, you and the Starfish.)