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Faith’s SECOND surgery

As many of you know Faith has strabismus or “lazy eye” (see older post for info on this…DXH1S9). And back in the summer of 2010 she had a surgery to correct her eyes, but unfortunately it didn’t correct them altogether so yesterday she had another surgery, this time only on her left eye.

Before I write anymore about her surgery and post some pictures I wanted to share with you a bit about the procedure to help you better understand what the surgery actually does. The surgeon told me at Faith’s last pre-op appointment and I thought it was fascinating. Hopefully you will too. He explained it like our eyes have a leash attached to them. Similar to a dog when you yank on the leash the dog turns toward you, same with our eyes, the muscle that keeps our eye looking straight is like a leash so when the surgeon pushes the muscle toward the back of Faith’s head it straightens her eye so it is looking straight on instead of looking down at her nose or out to the left. I thought that was a very practical explanation and helped me to understand what the surgeon was going to be doing to Faith. Hope it helped you too.

Back to Faith’s surgery: Yesterday we left very early in the morning to take Faith to Humber River Hospital on Finch Avenue. It was a long trip and the traffic wasn’t cooperating but we finally arrived and checked it. They put us in a room with four beds. Faith had the bed by the window. We brought her books to read, papers to colour on and our phones if she wanted to watch a movie. She was well entertained before she went in for surgery. The PJ’s they gave her were way too big so the nurse (Angela) went and got her a pair for a 2 year old. They still were too big but we cuffed the pants. You can see below her cute little “outfit.”

It was finally our turn to take Faith down to the surgery floor. By this time the nurse had come and pocked and prodded at Faith enough, she was ready for her surgery. And thankfully for me they didn’t put her IV in until she was in the operating room. Mommy got to go in with her. I had to wait patiently in the waiting room. I was told explicitly to not post a picture of De-Ann with her “get-up” on so unfortunately you are going to have to use your imagination. She had booties for her shoes, a smock gown and a cap for her hair. She looked like a surgeon. haha.

They surgery didn’t take long but she had a long road ahead of her in recovery.

After the surgery the surgeon told us it went very well and there were no complications. But we needed to give Faith eye drops four times a day for seven days. But thankfully it is only in one eye this time. After the surgeon left a few minutes later they called De-Ann into the recovery room and I again had to wait in the waiting room. Good thing I brought my iPad with me so I could catch up on some reading and playing games. Still working on Angry Birds Seasons. But I digress. haha.

About forty minutes later De-Ann texted me to let me know they were leaving the recovery room for Faith’s hospital room. I met them at the elevator and De-Ann was laying beside Faith on the gurney. Faith was fading in and out as I said “hi.” We got on the elevator and eventually into Faith’s bed. She slept most of the time while we quietly sat with her. I held her hand and rubbed her belly. A few times she came out of her sleep to tell us she was thirsty. But right back to sleep. Eventually we did get her some apple juice, and after she drank it she fell back to sleep. After about two hours the nurse came in to take Faith’s vitals and then remove the IV. Needless to say I had to cover my eyes or I would have fainted. Not much help in the medical department, eh?!

At 1pm we were told Faith is free to go so we packed up all our things and carried Faith to the van. She slept the whole way home. This time a shorter and quicker ride home. Before she actually fell asleep she said a few times “Daddy, I still sick.” Poor baby she wasn’t feeling that great and understood it. De-Ann thinks Faith is going to “milk this for all it’s worth.” I tend to agree. Faith is a very smart cookie!

Once we got home I took Faith downstairs to sleep on our couch as I sat beside her. She said to me “Daddy, you put your head on your pillow too.” She wanted me to sleep on the couch too. She slept on the couch most of the afternoon and quickly woke up when she heard her brother Shawn at the front door, home from daycare.

Both kids had a nice supper Mommy prepared then they came downstairs and watched Dora until bedtime. Shawn was so loving to his sister. I think he knew she was “sick.”

Today Faith is still recovering from her surgery, probably she is going to be back to her normal self by Thursday and will most likely be going to daycare. I am sure she will enjoy seeing all her friends, especially Owen H, her best friend. As I am typing she is sleeping beside me on the couch. Check out all the pictures I took yesterday and today. First three are just before her surgery and the last three at right after her surgery (tired little girl) and when we got home (eating a freeze) then this morning after she woke up (showing us her eye).

November 21, 2012 at 12:42 PM 2 comments