she's got Bette Davis eyes. I think not...

This morning at 3:30 am, I woke up with a throbbing eyelid that was nearly swollen shut.  I investigated in the bathroom mirror but couldn't see the telltale markings of a stye on the eyelash line so I immediately went to DEFCON 1 and assumed I must have some horribly invasive eye-eating bacteria dwelling in my head.

Naturally I then googled urgent care facilities since we, of course, don't have a primary care physician here yet.  There's one right down the road, thankfully, but since it didn't open until 9am, there was nothing to do but lay in the bed and watch old episodes of Parenthood (which always make me cry, so at least I knew it wasn't a blocked tear duct because they worked just fine).

6am Photo

I dropped off Mac at school and went to the doctor's office.  It turns out that I have the beginning of a stye on the inside of my eyelid.  This should only get worse before it gets better.  Which is nice since it's so attractive to have a big red puffy eyelid that looks like you're carrying a communicable disease.

Since I've not had a stye in maybe 30 years or so, I did a little research and I've learned that styes are most commonly the blocking of an oil gland at the base of the eyelash.  Since the currently developing stye is reportedly on the inside of the eyelid, those are "infections of the meibomian sebaceous glands lining the inside of the eyelids". I don't even know what that means.

And then I read that styes can be triggered by poor nutrition, sleep deprivation, lack of hygiene, lack of water and rubbing of the eyes.  I don't think I'm really sleep deprived (or not any more so than in years past), I'm fairly positive I've got great hygiene, I think I drink enough water, and I never rub my eyes (courtesy of lectures before and after my Lasik surgery).  So this stye might, in fact, be a result of my change in eating habits. Maybe the lack of carbs in my body has gone straight to my head, specifically my eyes, and caused the stye?  Is this nature telling me that I should go back to eating baked potatoes and pasta?

I watched a few back-to-back Parenthood episodes with hot compresses covering the eyesore before picking up Mac for early release day.  The only thing that would have made it better was if I'd eaten a bag of potato chips during the tv-watching marathon.

4pm Photo - looking better, right?