November 2011 Update - Surgery

Last post on this blog was over a year ago, and in reviewing the last couple of posts, I see that Dr. T has been talking to us about Joey's cataract since at least June of 2009! So here we are, in November of 2011, and today is the day after Joey's surgery.

Over the last year, the cataract had been getting worse and worse, and finally Dr. T said we needed to get that taken care of because it was getting much harder for him to look IN to see the condition of Joey' eye.  So we set a date (which happened to also be Hubby's bday!), and began to prepare for the surgery. 

Joey was very nervous as he anticipated the whole thing, as were we.  Along with the cataract surgery, Dr. T would also be examining both eyes, and if necessary, would seal closed any leakage with laser therapy.  A routine, outpatient surgery.  But still, when it's your baby...

A few weeks before the surgery, Joey needed to go to the pediatrician for a physical to clear him for surgery.  He also needed to go to an ophthalmologist to get a"lens calculation" for ordering the size of the lens that would be implanted to replace the lens with the cataract.  We also decided to get a hotel room close to the hospital, since we would need to see Dr. T for  a recheck on the morning after the surgery, and didn't want to make the long drive home after the surgery, nor the long drive back the next morning.  (Dr. T's office and the hospital are both located in the Pasadena area, which a 2-hour drive from our home.)

We were scheduled for 10:30am, which meant we needed to arrive at the hospital between 8am and 8:30am.  We left home at 6am.  Joey could not eat or drink anything.  I thought I had dealt with my anxiety, and felt relatively calm.  However, I puked all the way there, and later that evening, I'd find that I had forgotten to pack a few things that I needed.

We arrived right on time.  To "Admitting" to get registered, up to 2nd floor to "Same Day Surgery".  The person at the desk told us that Dr. T's second surgery had cancelled due to sickness, so we would probably go in a little early. 

We went into the room, which would be where we waited during surgery, and where they would bring him after he was done.  He changed into his gown and laid down to wait.  The first nurse came in and asked him if he wanted the IV done at that time, or if he preferred to have it done after he was asleep.  Of course, he wanted to wait! (Duh!)  However, when the anesthesiologist came in, she said that for a child his age, it was "safer" to have the IV done, and to bypass the gas.  We did what she suggested, although this threw Joey into a really nervous mode!  He was shaking and crying, and so I held his head while they started the IV.  The first nurse stuck it in, but then accidentally pulled it out.  Argh!  The second nurse did it pretty easily - he hardly felt it that time. 

Dr. T came in and said hello, told Joey his nervousness was pretty normal, and then he "signed" his initials with a marker over Joey's left eye. (various hospital personnel had also confirmed and reconfirmed that it would be the left eye).  Once the IV was done, they wheeled him out to take him to the OR.  It was 10:15am.  We walked with him, but couldn't go past the doors into the O.R. We hugged him, kissed him, prayed with him..and they wheeled him in.  As I saw him going in, I saw his little face scrunch up crying, and I could see he was shaking.  Those are the visuals that I never forget...that break my heart each time I see them in my mind's eye.  I comforted myself with the thought that I knew they were giving him something to relax him, so I knew he'd feel better in a few minutes. 

We expected the surgery to last about 1-1/2 to 2 hours, but it went long, almost 3 hours.  Finally, we heard Dr. T's voice outside our room.  He walked in and said he was done.  That was around 1pm.  He said everything went well.  He gave me a card that had the size and details about the lens implant that they'd used. He also told us that once they got in there, he found that there was quite "a lot of Coats' activity" going on.  So they sealed the leakage, gave him a steroid injection (which he had done during the last surgery.  He had explained to us back then that it was for a quicker absorption of the exudate from the leakage).  They also gave him an injection of a certain drug that had been found to be very helpful in preventing future leakage (not a new drug, but a new use).  They were able to peel away some scar tissue that he had in there, which I was glad to hear, because I always wondered how much of that scar tissue was impairing his vision.  Dr. T said it was more extensive of a surgery than he was anticipating, and that's why it took longer than expected.  But..it all went well, and everything that had been done, could only help Joey.  He told us that they'd be bringing Joey back in a bit, and then he left.

So we waited, and it seemed like a long time before they brought him back.  But finally, we saw them wheeling him back.  He was sleeping, but I saw him stirring when they were rolling him in. He said he was sleepy, and just kinda dozed comfortably.  The nurses said they'd just watch him a while, so they hooked him to the monitor and we just sat with him.  He woke up enough to take a few sips of juice, and go to the bathroom...but he was sleeeeeepy.  After about an hour (2:30pm), the nurse said he was doing well, and said he could go home anytime.  She said Dr. T wanted him to have some Tylenol before he left, so she gave him some.  She gave us our discharge instructions: Keep head elevated 30 degrees, don't get the dressing wet, give Tylenol for pain, call if there's any swelling, extreme pain, or vomiting.  Craig went to get the car, while I dressed Joey and got him ready to go.

After we left the hospital, we stopped at Von's first, to grab something for our dinner, as well as some crackers, apple sauce, and other things like that for Joey to eat in case he was feeling queasy.  We checked into the hotel, which was about 5 minutes away from the hospital.  Joey dozed off and on most the day..complaining about the patch annoying him, and the fact that he couldn't lay on his side, since he needed to keep his head elevated.  We figured if he was complaining, he was doing pretty well.  :) 

At about 6pm, he woke up, ate, watched TV, and made calls to everyone he could think of!  After a couple hours, he was sleepy again and fell asleep for the night.  This morning, he woke up early and starving!  And he was very anxious to get to Dr. T's office to get the patch removed. 

Joey with his goggles!

At his appointment, the nurse removed his patch and gave him a vision test.  Joey got very nervous and shaky again!  He felt like he had some "crusties" on his eye, and he kept focusing on that.  Later, when Dr. T examined him, we found out that it was actually the stitches in his eye that he was feeling.  Dr. T said everything looked good.  He gave us 4 different drops to put in his eye at 4 different times of the day.  And said he wanted to see him back in a week.  No sports activity, nothing strenuous, and he gave him some goggles to wear, since he'd be dilated for a while, and to protect from the wind if he goes outside. 

Whew!  So we made it through these two days that we'd been dreading for months!  Everything went well, looks good,  and time will tell how much Joey's vision will improve with the cataract fix and the scar tissue removal.  He's really excited with the prospect of any improvement in his vision.  Looks like he can see better already without the cataract, but he's so dilated at this time that its hard for him to see well right now.

We go back to see Dr. T in a week, so hopefully we'll get a better idea of how much his vision has improved then. 

We had all been so anxious for this surgery.  Even as I write this, I can only mostly tell you the the facts about what happened, as opposed to all we've been feeling through it.  But we made it - and I have to say that God carried us through, along with everyone's prayers.  Soooo many people praying for us -I'm so thankful.  So with all that said, I keep thinking this:  what doesn't kill us makes us stronger.