The scream jolted me awake before sunrise.

At first, I thought my seven-year-old daughter had experienced a nightmare. She had been sleeping peacefully just a few hours earlier after we spent the weekend at a remote cabin several hours away from the nearest emergency room.

I rushed into her room, expecting to comfort her after a bad dream.

Instead, I found her sitting upright in bed, tears streaming down her face.

“Mom,” she cried, covering one eye. “It hurts!”

I switched on the bedside lamp and gently pulled her hand away from her face.

That’s when I saw it.

Her upper eyelid had swollen dramatically overnight. Near the edge of the eyelid was a bright red bump with a tiny white point in the center.

It looked angry.

It looked painful.

And it definitely hadn’t been there the night before.

My stomach dropped.

As any parent would, my mind immediately raced through every frightening possibility. Had she been bitten by an insect? Was it an allergic reaction? Was it some kind of dangerous infection?

The nearest emergency department was nearly three hours away, and our cabin had only a weak cell signal.

Trying to stay calm, I helped her sit on the couch while I examined the swollen eyelid more closely.

She could still open the eye, although only partially because of the swelling.

Her vision seemed normal.

She didn’t have a fever.

The redness appeared to be concentrated around the bump itself rather than spreading across her entire face.

Still, seeing your child in pain makes it difficult to think clearly.

I called our family doctor, hoping someone would answer.

To my surprise, the office had an after-hours nurse available.

After listening carefully to my description, the nurse asked several important questions.

“Can she move her eye normally?”

“Is her vision blurry?”

“Does she have a fever?”

“Is the redness spreading rapidly around the eye?”

Thankfully, my answers were reassuring.

Then she asked me one more question.

“Does it look like a red bump with a small white or yellow point near the eyelashes?”

“It does,” I replied.

“It may simply be a stye.”

I had heard the word before but knew very little about it.