Patching - The Bad Days

We've been patching her left eye - the 'good eye' - since December 3, 2012.  The patching started the first day we were able to get the contact in her right eye - the eye that had the cataract removed.

Jumping ahead...

This is the 3rd day of M ripping off her patches. The 1st 'bad day' she ripped off 10-15 patches throughout the day, and of course now has raw skin where the adhesive was. So yesterday and today I have been putting her mitts on her hands.  This obviously is stopping her from ripping off her patches, but leaves her unable to do much around the house.  This makes M miserable.  And of course makes the rest of us miserable too.  

These pictures are not representative of her mood when she is required, by me, to wear them!  I picked some happy moments of her, while she's sporting the mitts!

She seems to have figured out that she can rip the patches off, and it's becoming a habit rather than an isolated incident.  We had had weeks of 'easy' patching, and now are thinking about having to get those Pediatric Arm Restraints.  I'm going to keep trying to use these mitts for a few days, and consider getting the arm restraints if it continues much longer.  The big benefit of the restraints would be that she can use her hands; right now it's obviously frustrating for her because she can't use her hands.

She is also wearing a surgical patch because her skin is irritated from all the patches she has been ripping off.  We happened to be at her doctor's yesterday, and they gave us a few patches to use until the skin heals.  The adhesive just connects with her skin in a few different spots, hopefully allowing for some healing in the spots that need it.