Today, the magnificent, the brave and the happy Cisco Kid (aka DS2) had eye surgery to correct his strabismus (his eyes turned in). He handled it bravely. The worst part was post-op. They had him wake up without me before they called me in (after I told them otherwise) and he was screaming crying as a nursed carried him to me (I’m sure he was so scared). Then he nursed so much he threw up. He was very upset screaming until they took out the IV and dad put him in the Ergo.
Our opthamologist is very experienced with this surgery so we opted to stay with this doctor eventhough the Surgical Center he uses does surgeries for babies through adults. Major contrast to our Children’s Hospital experience. Little appreciation for my anxiety. They had 4 waiting rooms for each pre-op phase and dad and big brother (who unexpectedly had to come with us) had to stay in the downstairs lobby. They also wouldn’t let me go to them during the operation for support. Not bad. They did a good job clinically. Just little compassion.
Once we got in the familiar car, he slept happily. After continuing to sleep for awhile, he nursed well and then threw it up again. Luckily after another bit of sleep, I only nursed him 5 minutes and the milk stayed down. I gradually increased the time as he asked and all has been well so far. Around 3 he played in our laps a little, went back to sleep (I napped too as I hadn’t really slept since 3 a.m.). Played in my lap. Slept some more then decided he was pretty much feeling back to normal. He’s been playing happily for about 1.5 hours. Hopefully he’ll be ready for bed soon. I know I am.
Now to wait and work aggressively on eye exercises. The surgery was done so young to give the best probability of success but his brain could still reject the correction and the eyes could cross again. There are some studies that show combining surgery with vision therapy can increase the chance of success (Unfortunately, Opthamologists and Optometrists don’t often play well together to get a better understanding of this). So far his eyes look much straighter and I not even noticing the OMA today (the surgery is not expected to correct that). I’ve been impressed with how well I’ve gotten him to track things this afternoon/evening. The picture above was taken by dad this evening.
Great news! Love the picture!