Survey says: Pink Eye

It has been quite the ride the past week or so. Turns out my viral infection went bacterial and then the cherry on the top was finding out in the middle of the day on Friday that I had pink eye. I suppose I didn't really "find out." I mostly self-diagnosed. Regardless, that self-diagnosis was later confirmed by not only the doctor, but also a student. That makes it really legit, right?

That morning, I woke up with some "sleep" as I like to call it, in my eye. I don't normally ever have it, but it's not like it was some abnormal amount that might concern me. I went to school and JD joined me since he didn't have classes on Friday. Holy tender mercy. Him being there, was my saving grace for the day. I'd had this fun day planned with popcorn, a debate, a few games, tickets, and some drawings at the end of the day. My students have been working for months to earn the popcorn party, and Friday was their big day. We had a giant tub of Jelly Belly's for a lucky student. Basically, the plan was to give tickets during the day for various things: i.e. good behavior, good scores on their weekly comprehension, grammar, and spelling tests, etc. Then at the end of the day, we'd draw the tickets for various prizes and see who the winners were.

Somehow my day just did not go as planned.
First issue of the day: SNOW. What in the world?! I woke up to the freaking North Pole that morning. Since JD came along, he took the driver's seat and I documented the insanity. Snow = No Capture the Flag/Kickball.
Second issue of the day: Around 10:00, my eye really started getting goopy. It was producing that junk every 5 minutes. I wasn't quite sure what was going on, since I've never had pink eye.
Third issue of the day: My cough. Out of control. At times, I could barely catch my breath/speak. NOT cool.

To every negative, there is a positive. Usually.
First tender mercy of the day: JD. Thank goodness he was there to take control.
Second tender mercy of the day: One of my students left a note attached to a bag of cough drops. How sweet is that? I swear on everything that I will never have a class like this again. I can't even talk about it.


In the end, it all worked out. My student who actually had guessed the correct # of jelly beans (and won a ticket for it) ended up being the overall winner for the huge bucket. We did multiple drawings for Frooties (JD's favorite childhood candy) - and I'm talking like "Go get 50 Frooties out of the bag" kind of drawings. We had "perfect assembly behavior." I wore sunglasses for 1/2 the day (including the assembly where parents were in attendance --- I don't even want to know what they were thinking about me) after the following conversation:

Student A: Do you think you have pink eye, Mrs. Rasmussen?
Me: That's what it's looking like.
Student B: Yeah. You probably do. I think you might've gotten it from me. I had it earlier this week. I'm really sorry.
Me: Well then yes, that is definitely what I have.

Self-Diagnosis was confirmed. I made sure all the kids were sanitized and I touched nothing for the rest of the day.

My students deemed my left eye as my "droopy eye." Poor kids. You're seeing the G-rated version below. They unfortunately, saw the PG-13 and some of them may have even seen worse underneath my glasses. I have really never seen anything so disgusting in my life. I sent a picture of it at its worst to my sister and brother. Lexi's response? "I'm literally throwing up." I felt really pretty that day.


It's fine. I only spent $80 and 3 hours at the Instacare last week between my two visits. My second doctor wasn't a dud like my first. I showed him the eye. He gave me the meds. No questions asked. Hallelujah. Someone who actually listens to his patients.

4 days later and I'm pretty sure it's gone. I celebrated by putting make-up on. YEAH BABY. I'm a wild one.