What an emotionally exhausting week this
has been! I do not recommend scheduling your child for surgery the same
week you're having to re-live the hardest day of your life. Owen's eye
surgery was Thursday and Audrey's 3rd birthday is today.
There will never be enough words to express how much I miss her. We
went to the cemetery today to plant flowers. It was a gorgeous day for
us to do it and we always talked about planting flowers and putting up a
hanging basket, so we finally did it. Looks gorgeous up there!
I was super stressed all week about Owen's
eye surgery, adding to it the stress of him getting sick with a cold the
week before. I was a nervous wreck in general and then I was even more
nervous that we'd end up having to post-pone surgery because of his
cold. The surgery wasn't something that needed done immediately like the
surgery for his craniosynostosis, but when it had been hanging over our
heads since January that it needed done, I was ready to get it over
with.
We woke up early Thursday morning and got
ready for the hospital. Talk about de ja vu! Didn't we just do that a
year ago?! Owen was not happy about not being allowed to eat or drink
his milk. He was allowed water or gatorade until 7:15 am, but he's a
creature of habit... and he LOVES his morning cup of milk.
We got to the hospital, checked in and the
nurse came in to exam him. She mentioned his cold but said she didn't
think it would stop surgery. The nurse practitioner then came in and
said she noticed it too but he wasn't wheezing so she was okay with
clearing him for surgery. I was so relieved! After listening to little
guy have a melt down over being tired and hungry for what felt like an
eternity, they finally came back to take him for surgery.
The Doctor
told us in February the procedure would be 45 minutes to an hour, so I
went down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. Neither of us felt
right eating when Owen couldn't, so we waited until after he went back
to surgery to eat. I had just sat down and took the first bite of my
sandwich and the Doctor was already coming out. It was maybe 20 minutes
and he was done. I was shocked. I honestly started to panic when I saw
him because I thought he was coming out to say he had a reaction to
being put under, they had to stop surgery, etc... but nope, he was done
and Owen was going to recovery.
He started to wake up shortly after we went
to recovery but I picked him up and cuddled him and he went right back
to sleep. After recovery phase I, we had to go to recovery phase II for a
little bit. Around Noon-ish he had started to wake up and they came in
to remove his IV's, give us discharge instructions, etc. I was standing
at the crib with him, dressing him, when I looked down and noticed blood
on his arm. He was crying a little bit and when I looked up, there was
blood coming out of his eye! Oh, I lost it. The room turned white, it
was like I was looking in a tunnel and I couldn't hear anything. I
remember telling Adam to get the Nurse and come grab Owen. I was going
to pass out. I sat down, the Nurse came in and said everything was
okay... that was to be expected from the procedure.. but he was okay. It
would have been nice to get some kind of warning beforehand! It's not
normal to see blood coming from your child's eye. I took a drink of some
juice, the Nurse made sure I was okay, and then we were free to leave.
Adam told me when we got to the car that when I asked him to grab Owen
and get the Nurse that all of the color left my face and I looked as
white as a ghost. It had to have been because of where the blood was
coming from, because I've never reacted that way to blood before. I
didn't react that way when he had his cranio surgery last year. It was
so bizarre! I guess if you're going to pass out (or come close to it at
least) there's no better place to do it than at a hospital.
He was pretty groggy and inconsolable in
the evening. I ended up giving him some of his pain medicine and he
passed out on the floor. It was kind of cute actually. He was sitting by
the door playing with his hot wheels and I noticed he was quiet. I got
up to check on him and he was passed out in the front of the door, butt
in the air and his hot wheels still in his hand.
By Friday morning he was back to his normal
self and Adam said he even ate 3 whole hot cakes from McDonald's and
probably would have ate more if there was more to eat. :)
We have some cream that we are supposed to
rub on his eye twice a day. He's not a fan of it, and pretty much
screams like I am hurting him each time, but it has to be done. We go
back Monday for a follow-up with the surgeon.
I was sitting on the couch with him last
night, watching him as he watched cartoons, and I was stunned. For the
first time in his short 19 months of life he wasn't tilting his head to
watch tv. He was sitting up and actually holding his STRAIGHT. It was
incredible! I was in awe and sat there forever just watching him.
It's so amazing to me that we put him thru
months of physical therapy for his neck only for this to all be because
of his eyes. I love his physical therapist and I appreciate every word
of wisdom and encouragement she provided, but it's so frustrating that
two Doctors (his pediatrician and the first Eye doctor he saw) couldn't
properly diagnose either problem. It took us going to Akron Children's
to finally get the answers and treatments. I am so thankful to have such
an amazing facility so close to home.
You should see the other guy. He hasn't got up yet ;)
