Three days ago, while I was lying down on the couch, my 2-year-old’s heel made contact with my eye socket.  The pain was excruciating.

Have you ever been kicked in the eye?  I don’t recommend it.  After the shock and nausea wore off, I got up off the couch and tested my eyesight.  No double vision. A good start.  I felt disoriented and a little bit unsteady but eventually after ten minutes or so the acute pain subsided and I was left with a dull ache.

Later that evening however, I developed pain in my neck and behind both eyes that was unlike anything I had experienced before. I get migraine headaches and have had tension headaches as well, but this one was different.  I wasn’t rushing to the ER or anything, as my vision was still normal but even after 1000 mg of Tylenol and 800 mg of Ibuprofen, and an ice pack, the pain wasn’t that much better. I started to wonder if may I had suffered a concussion, but I laughed off that notion. Really? A concussion from a toddler’s heel?  Absurd!

The next day wasn’t much better. I just felt awful all day. My neck was sore too and I just couldn’t get comfortable. Ice on and off, multiple rounds of Ibuprofen and Tylenol, hot shower. I just wanted to sleep.

Could this be a concussion?  Did I have some horrible bruise behind my eye that was compressing my brain?

Of course, my vision was still (and still is) normal so I knew there wasn’t anything horribly wrong with me and after consulting with my colleagues, we diagnosed me with a minor case of whiplash and “toddler’s-heel-in-the-eyeitis”.

I’m getting better. Today was the first day I’ve only needed one round of Ibuprofen. I switched from ice to heat for my neck and I think that really made all the difference.

My eye still hurts though.