Jesse has eye surgery - Day 1 and 2

Jesse had his eye yesterday and I tried keeping good notes about my feelings and his progress.  I know that I found it invaluable when others who've been through this shared their experience and I want to provide another data point for other parents out there.  But I also want to capture what this is like in case we have to go through it again (praying we don't).

Surgery Day (Day 1)

(As an engineer, I can't help but wonder if Surgery Day is day 1 or day 0.  But that's a completely different post for another time)

5:45 am

We are dressed and ready to go.  I'm looking over at the bed watching our sweet boys sleep so peacefully next to each other.  I wonder if this is the right decision.  Are we right to do the surgery?  I'm scared.  Scared his eye will be misaligned as a side effect.  Scared it is unnecessary.  After all, he gets on just fine today.  Yet, I look at pictures of him watching his ipad and I see his extreme head turn.  His struggle to hold his neck at a weird angle (right or down).  I know this is the right call, how could we not try to help him?

My fear now turns to the cough he's had for the last few days.  His lungs sound clear through a stethoscope, but that's my non-doctor opinion.  It makes me nervous the anesthesiologist will not clear him for surgery.  All this waiting, all this time.   I hope he's well enough.

7:15 am

We are in the waiting area and all changed and ready to go.  Jesse is wrapped up with his Minnie and his "de-de" (blanket).

The anesthesiologist checked him out and was completely unfazed by his cough.  Phew.

He is scared but so strong.

7:20 am

Jesse is given some liquid medicine to help him calm down and relax.  Within 10 minutes he's completely loopy and out of it.  He heads back around 7:30, Mom is crying but Jesse seems okay with what's going on.  Dad is holding it together and Max is unfazed.

9:20 am

Waiting is HARD!

The surgery was supposed to be 1 hour plus time on both sides for anesthesia.  He was wheeled back at 7:30 so we are approaching the 2 hour mark.  I'm getting pretty nervous now.  I'm trying to play with Max to keep my mind off it.

I guess this is a good time to have a 4 year old with you because they are a good distraction.  Breakfast at the café helped too.

9:45 am

Dr. Granet just came out and looks happy.  Phew!   2 hrs and 15 minutes after they first took him back.  He said everything went as perfect as he would have wanted.

As we discussed, he operated on two muscles on each eye.  He did not touch the oblique's because we wanted to be conservative and reduce the risk of strabismus (noted difference between Dr. Hertle and Dr. Granet).  Dr. Granet stressed the chin down null point over his head tilt and he also worked considerably on the head turn to the right.  It's hard to correct for chin down, turn, and turn all at the same time, especially when only using 2 muscles, so we had to decide what to stress.  I think this was the right call.

At this point it is a waiting game to see how Jesse responds.  A week out (9/5 ish) we should know how successful the surgery was and if he will need further correction.

Jesse did get some Novocain in his eyes to help numb them, but the doctor warned that he would wake up upset because he's 2 and is a "body without a brain" so he wouldn't understand the feeling of the novacain.  Valid.

10:00 am

Jeremy is allowed to go back and be with him.  He's crying a lot and wants Daddy.  He has weights on his arms so he can't rub his eyes, so that's not helping.

10:42 am

Jesse is discharged.  4 hrs from arrival to discharge.  He is pretty uncomfortable and moaning a lot.  Jeremy holds him as daddy, de-de and Minnie are requested the most.

....

From 12 - 6pm I take Max out to Coronado beach.  We play in the sand, run in the water, eat gelato, and then come back to the hotel to swim in the hotel pool.  He's such a mama's boy.  I love the water.
Jesse spends the afternoon sleeping and resting.

....

6:50 pm

Jesse opened his eyes for a second to watch Mickey and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  He closed them pretty quick and decided he could listen and eat goldfish with his eyes closed.  He's not too red but they were dancing like crazy.  Is this normal?  Mom is nervous.

7:50 pm

Jesse opened his eyes again to read some books but he's quite lethargic and just looks sad.


Surgery Day (Day 2)

7:00 am

Jesse woke slightly cranky but his eyes opened pretty quickly.  They are red but not awful.  (I suppose that depends on your definition but compared to what I had envisioned, it's not bad)

9:00 am

Jesse is up and playing with legos, trains, and acting pretty normal.  His eyes are mostly open and he is very talkative.  The eyes are dancing quite a bit and there is noticeable misalignment between the eyes.  His left eye, with the most work done on it, won't seem to reach the outside corner.  Is this normal for the day after surgery?  We just have to wait and see.  I'm praying it corrects itself and goes away.

26 hrs post surgery looking at the camera.

(It should be noted that he could pretty much do this pre-surgery

as well, as he never really had a head tilt/turn in pictures. 

But here you can see some redness and soreness)

....

Today Max and Daddy got to go to the San Diego Zoo. Apparently it's AMAZING!

...

1:00 pm

Lots of play time today.  Legos, trains, painting, and lots of ipad time.  His favorite.  He still does his head tilt and I'm not sure if that's because 1) the surgery didn't work, or 2) because we didn't correct for a tilt that much (remember, it's hard to hit all 3 directions w/o touching the oblique's) or 3) maybe he's just so used to tilting his head to see his ipad that's what his normal is and he doesn't yet know that he doesn't have to do that.

28 hrs after surgery

1:30 pm

I'm finally getting this kid down for a nap.  I guess that's a good thing!  He only wants to eat goldfish and crackers but who am I to argue with that.


To check out the next post, click HERE.

To check out the previous post, click HERE.

To follow our story from the beginning, click HERE.