Eye Surgery Day for Parker
April 29, 2011
We're on our way to take Chloe to a friend's house and Parker to the surgery center.
All dressed in the hospital gown and "fuzzy socks" - waiting for surgery. I am surprised at how calm, patient and happy Parker was being since he hadn't eaten anything since the night before.
"I don't want to wear my fuzzy socks anymore! I gonna throw them on the floor!"
How much cuter could this little boy get!?!
Back and forth we went in the hall as we waited for all the different dr's and nurses to come talk to us. This little car saved our sanity and gave him something to do...since all the stuff I brought for him weren't as cool as this! How can books, hot wheel cars and crayons and paper compete with this!?
Time for surgery...
They let me carry him back to the operating room and stay with him as they gave him "sleeping gas" to fall asleep. Once he was asleep, they ushered me out of the room and to the waiting area. That's when I got a bit emotional. I made my way to the restroom where I hid in the stall and let my tears come. Why? Well, it was hard to see him laying there, lifeless, and knowing that when I get to see him again, he will have had his EYES cut on (actually the eye muscles). It was hard to know that he would be in pain and there was nothing I could do about it. I obviously want the best for him, that is why we were doing surgery, but I hated the thought of him having to go through that. It also brought up many emotions from surgeries and procedures with Karleigh which are never easy to relive. So I cried for a minute and then pulled myself together.
Just out of surgery and still sleeping from the anesthesia. He looked pretty puffy, but not quite as puffy as I thought he would.
Waking up from the surgery was actually the worst part of it all for him. The nurse said that others have told her that it often feels like you have sandpaper in your eyes. He was SO uncomfortable and cried and cried uncontrollably. Luckily he still wanted me to snuggle him while he cried. Finally, after about 20-30 minutes of crying, he managed to tell me that his eyes hurt really bad. So, the nurse gave him a little more pain medicine in his IV and that calmed him down in really fast. He then slept for about 20 more minutes. When he woke up, he was still sad and crying, but was at least consolible. He refused to open his eyes, though. One thing that I thought was so sweet was when he heard another child in recovery next to us crying. He was so concerned, "that's baby's sad! Can I go give him a hug?" He can't stand it when other kids are sad and always wants to go comfort them...even when he just got out of surgery!
After getting dressed and gathering our stuff, we headed to our friends house to pick up Chloe. He was awake, but still refused to open his eyes.
In the car, waiting to go home. These arm "no-no's" made it so he couldn't bend his elbows and rub his eyes. He didn't seem to mind them at all.
Once at home, he was starting to hurt again and was also hungry since he hadn't eaten all day long. Nurse Chloe took great care of him!! She is such a great big sister!
She fed him his requested food...goldfish and milk.
Those poor little eyes!! Oh, they look SO painful!!! But look at how much straighter they already look!! YEAH!!
After more pain meds and alternating between playing with Chloe and Zach and sitting on my lap, he finally fell asleep on my lap as the other kids played right in front of us - even with all their noise! Tired little guy!!
The day after surgery, he was back and forth between "my eyes hurt" to jumping off couches and playing around...and just being his busy, into everything self. I really thought this surgery would slow him down longer than that!! But I am extremely grateful that he is doing so well and that this recovery hasn't been as bad as I envisioned!
The day after munching on his string cheese...cheesing for the camera! (wearing his #2 shirt from Grandma)
The first couple times I put his glasses on, he commented unprompted, "I can see better!" So while I still do see some drifting of his eyes, they are definetely better! And hopefully with wearing glasses, his eyes will continue to grow stronger and stronger and years down the road, he may not even need glasses! We'll see at his 6 week post-op check-up if he needs a new prescription or not for his glasses.
Thank you for all the prayers and concern for our little handsome 2 year old! He truly is such a sweet little boy and so much fun to be around! Luckily, the one thing that slows him down for a while is sitting on the couch, reading books! We do that lots...especially when his busyness hasn't stopped for a while and I am running thin on patience and energy. I love my little Parker-pants!!
Update:
Today I took Parker for his first post-op appointment. Dr. Berman says his eys are looking great and just as he wanted to see! And the best part of all...He said they are STRAIGHT when he wears his glasses, which is what we were hoping for!!! HOORAY!!! He will go back in a month and see if his prescription needs changed, but the Dr. thinks it will probably be fine. Now let's see if his frames hold up for at least a month! They are hangin' on by a thread!
