Knowing what you're in for - is it a benefit or a drawback?
Tomorrow morning, Adam will undergo a lensectomy and IOL implant on his left eye. Just over one month ago, we went through this for the first time. That time, we had no idea what we were in for. We were petrified. At least I was. Stu probably wasn't petrified. He's the cool, calm, and collected type. He was maybe a little nervous. But I know both of us worried that things might not go well and we didn't know what the prognosis was for our little two year old's eventual vision. Now we know that Adam has one good eye. His right eye is completely healed and he will likely see 20/20 out of that eye eventually. We're lucky in that this particular surgery does not cause much discomfort for our little patient. So we hope and pray that this surgery and recovery will go similarly, and even better than the first time, since now we know that Adam's immune system is very strong and does not appreciate having implantable lenses placed in his eyeballs. So this time, Adam will be started on oral steroids immediately after surgery to try to avoid the inflammatory response he exhibited last time.
On the one hand, knowing what we're in for is a relief. We kind of know how long the surgery will take; what the surgeon will come out and tell us and show us; how Adam will be when he first wakes up and that it will take some time for him to come out of anasthesia and that he will be wild, mad, and upset at first. We know (we think) that he will bounce back pretty quickly.
On the other hand, we know (we think) that he will bounce back pretty quickly. We know that we are in for two weeks of trying our darndest to make sure that our very, very active nearly three year old son is so, SO careful with his eye because of the scary possibility that if it is even rubbed too hard in the first few days, his eye will be ruined and his chance for vision in that eye will be eliminated. We know that instead of tucking our kids into bed and then having a little adult time together before we collapse in bed, we will take turns sitting in a rocking chair in the boys' room watching Adam to make sure he lies still in the lower bunk and is not up, fooling around and potentially damaging that newly operated eye. I've taken the next week off of work so that I can monitor Adam's every move and sit in the rocking chair by his bedside at nap time, making sure he's not up, fooling around and potentially damaging that newly operated eye. We know that we have just finished weaning Adam off of steroid and dilating eye drops in his right eye and we will be starting all over again with 6-7 drops a day of steroid drop, 4 drops a day of antibiotic drop, and 1 drop a day of dilating drop for the next 4-5 weeks, ramping down as we go.
Thank God for the wonderful mom's Stu and I both have - each of them are slotted for a day this week, helping us out with Max (who, with perfect timing, has come down with a virus that has him pretty laid up) and Ryann. And we are so blessed to have a care provider who loves our kids like her own and is educated and prepared to care for Adam next week, while he's still recovering, still wearing the eye shield, when I return to work. Deanna came with me to Adam's follow up appointment the day after his surgery last time so that she could hear straight from Dr. B's mouth what to expect and how to care for Adam as his eye heals.
We are so thankful for all the friends and family praying for us and thinking of us during this scary and stressful time. Here we go again....
On the one hand, knowing what we're in for is a relief. We kind of know how long the surgery will take; what the surgeon will come out and tell us and show us; how Adam will be when he first wakes up and that it will take some time for him to come out of anasthesia and that he will be wild, mad, and upset at first. We know (we think) that he will bounce back pretty quickly.
On the other hand, we know (we think) that he will bounce back pretty quickly. We know that we are in for two weeks of trying our darndest to make sure that our very, very active nearly three year old son is so, SO careful with his eye because of the scary possibility that if it is even rubbed too hard in the first few days, his eye will be ruined and his chance for vision in that eye will be eliminated. We know that instead of tucking our kids into bed and then having a little adult time together before we collapse in bed, we will take turns sitting in a rocking chair in the boys' room watching Adam to make sure he lies still in the lower bunk and is not up, fooling around and potentially damaging that newly operated eye. I've taken the next week off of work so that I can monitor Adam's every move and sit in the rocking chair by his bedside at nap time, making sure he's not up, fooling around and potentially damaging that newly operated eye. We know that we have just finished weaning Adam off of steroid and dilating eye drops in his right eye and we will be starting all over again with 6-7 drops a day of steroid drop, 4 drops a day of antibiotic drop, and 1 drop a day of dilating drop for the next 4-5 weeks, ramping down as we go.
Thank God for the wonderful mom's Stu and I both have - each of them are slotted for a day this week, helping us out with Max (who, with perfect timing, has come down with a virus that has him pretty laid up) and Ryann. And we are so blessed to have a care provider who loves our kids like her own and is educated and prepared to care for Adam next week, while he's still recovering, still wearing the eye shield, when I return to work. Deanna came with me to Adam's follow up appointment the day after his surgery last time so that she could hear straight from Dr. B's mouth what to expect and how to care for Adam as his eye heals.
We are so thankful for all the friends and family praying for us and thinking of us during this scary and stressful time. Here we go again....
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