The dreaded pink eye

Adelae's been in school since September and up until now, we've managed to avoid one of the joys that comes with school....illness. The flu has (knock on wood) missed us so far. There haven't been any reports of lice (knock on wood again). Other than a cold or two, it hasn't been anything we can't deal with. Until yesterday. Adelae woke up with gunky eyes. I looked at Ben and said "Oh crap. She has pink eye." I put in a call to the pediatrician, since Adelae's eyes weren't pink or itching her, the nurse said it was probably a cold that had settled in her eye and not to be to worried. So, we continued about our day. A day that included several errands.
While we were out to lunch Adelae said the phrase I was dreading "Mommy, my eyes hurt." I asked her if they itched and she said no and they still weren't pink. So, we continued our errands. We were in the middle of Meijer, I took one look at her and said to Ben, "We need to get out of here. Her eyes are horrible." And they were. They were fire engine red, swollen and just nasty looking.
I whipped out my phone and started frantically looking up doctors hoping I'd be able to find a walk in clinic that was still open. Luckily, the doctor that Ben and I see has a walk in clinic. Even luckier, they were still open and had open times. Unfortunately, we only had about 30 minutes to get there. Have you ever tried to check out at Meijer the weekend before Christmas? Well, it's not fun. Or fast. Somehow we managed to find the only open check out lane. We were out of there in lightening speed.
The Nurse Practioner that looked at Adelae was really nice. She said that she was pretty sure it was pink eye and she would just go ahead and prescribe us some eye drops.
I am so glad that we were able to get her some medicine. I just feel really bad for making her wait. I knew I should have taken her to the doctor that morning, but I went against my gut. Had we gone that morning, her eyes wouldn't have gotten so bad.

And I'd have my Christmas shopping done.