Anna's Second Eye Surgery

Anna had her first eye muscle surgery in September of 2013 when she was almost 9 months old. Her eyes looked great after the surgery, but started crossing again after about six months.  In July of 2014, she started wearing glasses, and we were also patching one of the lenses every day for 4-5 hours. After doing that for about 9 months, her eyes were not showing any signs of improvement, and we decided to go ahead with another surgery.  I didn't feel near as nervous going into it as I did the first time around.  It helped knowing what to expect.  This surgery was similar to the first one, except this time, they strengthened the outer muscles where last time they weakened the inner ones.

Day before surgery

All ready to go

Anna was completely calm going into surgery.  She is pretty used to doctors and nurses by now so getting her vitals taken and everything didn't even phase her.  After they took her back to surgery, we had to wait about an hour before her doctor came and told us everything went well.  When they brought Anna back to us about a half hour later, she was still really out of it.  She had a rough time waking up.  She was crying and thrashing around, trying to get away from whoever was holding her.  She still had her I.V. in and she got so tangled up from tossing and turning that it ended up pulling out and getting blood all over me, her, and the floor.  That was a little traumatic!  After about twenty minutes, Derek finally got her calmed down with a pack of fruit snacks.  When he tried to feed her one, she immediately snatched it out of his hand and said, "No! I do it myself!"  That's when we knew we had our Anna back. :)

After surgery

I look like I got shot, haha

So far, the surgery seems successful.  For the first month after surgery, she didn't wear her glasses because they were over-correcting her eyes and actually causing them to turn outward slightly.  But now she's wearing them again, and her doctor say her eyes are looking really good.  But there's just no way to know if they'll stay straight.  It's not uncommon for people with strabismus to need multiple eye surgeries. Sometimes a person's eyes will be good for five or ten years and then start crossing again.  It's  just not a perfect fix because the problem is really with the brain's control of the eye muscles and not the eye muscles themselves.

I've been doing quite a bit of research on strabismus and have read some promising research on vision therapy.  We actually met with an optometrist who does vision therapy two years ago before her first surgery.  He thought her eyes were so bad that the therapy wouldn't help and surgery was the only way to fix them.  But he gave us some eye exercises to do at home and said they would help her eyes stay straight after surgery. We were pretty diligent about it for the first couple months after her surgery, but then we didn't keep up with it because we didn't have vision insurance to cover optometrist appointments, and because her eyes were doing so great that we we just got too relaxed about it...and also because her opthamologist told us that vision therapy doesn't actually work in most cases and basically said it was a waste of our time and money.  It's apparently quite a debate in the eye-care world.  Most eye surgeons (like Anna's) say the research shows that it's only successful in very limited, specific cases.  But the optometrists who use vision therapy report very high success rates for kids like her.  I'm not sure what to think.  We really love Anna's opthamologist and think he's a great doctor and a skilled surgeon...but we can't help but wonder if she wouldn't have needed a second surgery if we had kept up with the vision therapy.  Maybe it wouldn't have made any difference.  But we figure that even if it doesn't work, it's worth a shot.  We're willing to try anything to avoid more surgeries!  So we scheduled an appointment for Anna at the end of the month.  At least if we try it and it doesn't work, we'll know we explored all the options.

Anna's Surgery

As most of you know, Anna's eye surgery was last Thursday.  As far as we can tell, the surgery was a success!  Her eyes look SO much better than before.  They seem to be tracking together really well, better than they ever have before.  It's almost strange to see...we were so used to the left eye being turned in that it's weird to see it looking straight and moving with the right eye.  Her eyes are still a little red but looking better every day.  We have to put antibiotic drops in three times a day, which Anna HATES.  But no more eye patch and hopefully no more surgeries!  We take her in for a follow-up appointment this afternoon, so we'll find out what the doctor has to say.  But we're feeling pretty optimistic!

The surgery was early Thursday morning.  We had to be to the surgery center at 7:00 a.m.  Derek and I woke up about 5:00 a.m. and showered and dressed.  We planned to wait to wake up Anna until right before we had to leave, but she woke up around 5:45, wanting to nurse. She couldn't eat for 5 hours before, which I was really worried about because she rarely goes that long.  Luckily, she handled it pretty well.  We got her up and got her dressed.  Then before we left, Derek gave her a blessing.

In the waiting area

It was a pretty cold and rainy day.  We got to the surgery center a few minutes early. We had to fill out some paperwork, and then we sat in the waiting room until about 7:45.   Then the nurse took us back to weigh Anna and take her vitals.  Her opthamologist (who performed the surgery) came to talk to us briefly.  Then the anesthesiologist came to tell us about how she would be put under and how long it would be before she woke up.

Then he swept her away.  We had planned to stay with her until they put her under, but they didn't give us the option.  It probably was better that way.  I think it would have been hard for me to watch.  After they took her, they led us to another waiting room next to the recovery room.  The surgery took about an hour.  It was a LONG hour.

Finally, the doctor came in and told us everything went well.  Then he talked to us about what to expect in the next few days as far as her recovery.  He told us Anna was still sleeping, but that she would be waking up soon. We could see Anna in the recovery room through the window.  Derek tried to walk over to her bed, but the nurses told us we couldn't go in there and that they would bring her to us as soon as she woke up.

About ten minutes later, they finally brought Anna to us.  She was just barely starting to stir, and her eyes were still closed.  It was so sad to see.  Her eyes were all puffy and there were a few drops of dried blood around them.  As she started to wake up more, she started crying (her voice was all horse from the tube they put down her throat).  She was NOT happy.  I tried nursing her and that helped calm her down a little.  Then the nurse came to take her vitals, and that made her mad again.  She wouldn't eat after that or take her pacifier.  I finally got her to stop crying by holding her upright with her head lying on my shoulder. That is my favorite way to hold her, but she hardly ever does it anymore, so I was kind-of loving it. :)  The nurse came in one more time to check her vital signs, and when everything looked good, they said we could go.

Anna had fallen back asleep by then, and we managed to slip her into her car seat without waking her up.  She slept the whole way home.  When we got home, she woke up and finally opened her eyes. We were a little worried at first because they still looked crossed!  But I think it was just because she was still pretty groggy.  After a few minutes, they looked as straight as can be!  Here's a before and after picture.

Before.

After.  So much better, huh?!

She was pretty fussy the rest of the day...not super cranky, but not her usual happy self.  We could tell her eyes were bothering her because she kept trying to rub them.  And they just looked like they hurt!  They were SO red and sometimes a little blood would trickle out of the corner.  They kind-of looked like eyes out of a horror movie, haha.  And she was so sleepy!  I think she was awake a total of maybe six hours that day!

But by the evening, she was starting to act more like herself, smiling and wanting to get down on the floor and scoot around.  And the next day, she was almost completely back to her normal, happy self.

We are just feeling so grateful that everything went so well!  Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers through this whole ordeal.  We really, really appreciate it!

Surgery is Scary

We were told last Monday that Anna needs to have surgery to fix her crossed eyes.  We weren't surprised or shocked.  We hadn't seen any improvement with the patching, and we had read a lot of information about strabismus (misaligned eyes).  Everything we read about her condition seemed to point to surgery as the answer.  So we were pretty much just waiting for the doctor to confirm what we already knew.

But as we sat there in the doctor's office, hearing the procedure explained as a "when" rather than an "if" and hearing the risks involved...and actually marking a date for the surgery to take place...it all suddenly became real.  And a little frightening.  Even though I know that the risks are statistically very small, and even though the doctor specializes in this procedure and has done it hundreds of times, and even though I want the problem to be fixed...even though my mind tells me that everything will be fine and there's no reason to worry...I worry.  Because she's my baby girl.  And I love her more than life.  And the thought of even the possibility of anything bad happening to her is terrifying.

I wish she didn't need surgery!  I hate the thought of handing her over to doctors and nurses to be poked and prodded and put under and operated on.  I hate the thought of waiting over an hour to be told that everything went well and to see and hold her again.

Most of all, I hate that there's nothing I can do to fix it.  Everything else I've been able to fix for her.  I feed her when she's hungry.  I help her to fall asleep.  I comfort her when she's hurt.  But this is out of my hands.  I have to literally put my baby girl in the hands of strangers (competent and skilled strangers, but still strangers).  And I have to trust them to fix her eyes.

All I can do is pray.  Pray and have faith that the Lord will watch over her and that everything will be fine.  And there's no reason why everything won't be just fine!  But it's still scary.

(Also, for anyone who is interested, I found this website that explains Anna's condition really well.  You can also read Derek's blog post which explains the surgery in more detail.)