Post surgery

Anya's surgery went well last night.  It began with an exam under anesthesia performed by her regular ophthalmologist.  What he found confirmed what he saw last Tuesday in his office:  Anya's left eye has no change, which means it is stable.  Anya's right eye had seeds.  In fact, more seeds than he saw last week.  That means removal of the eye was absolutely the right thing to do.

While he was talking to us in the waiting room, back in the OR, surgery was underway.  The report we later received was that everything went well.  The scleral buckles and sponge that were put on her eye in an attempt to repair the detached retina complicated things a bit, but the end result was that the eye came out intact, which is what they want.  

The most amazing person of the day was Anya.  When we first told her about this surgery, she cried and screamed.  The second time we talked about it, it was the same scene.  Of course this is a completely natural response, and we told her as much.  But at the same time I was worried that we would have to drag her kicking and screaming into the hospital.  In terms of preparing her for surgery, the best thing that happened was a book I ordered arrived, I am so thankful that it was sent quickly.  It is called My Fake Eye and describes a child going through exactly what Anya is going through.  Since we received it last Friday, Anya has wanted to read it at least twenty times.  It led to only a few questions from Anya, but it got her to the point where she understood what was going to happen.  She walked into the hospital as she always has.  In many ways, routine took over and it was likely the first time I was thankful that we had been there so many times previously.  Although she was tired and hungry, she was still a pleasant kid to be around - charming the nurses, talking to the doctors, and playing around with her parents.  The time came to go back into the OR, and she went with no problems, put the mask on her face, and fell asleep like the old pro that she has become.

Today she hasn't had much energy.  She isn't happy about the patch, but what really bothers her is having to take medicine.  We coerced her to take tylenol twice, then didn't push it anymore.  She also has to take an antibiotic to protect against infection.  The doctor wanted us to ice her eye twenty minutes out of every hour.  We managed to get about ten minutes in today.  Tomorrow we head back to the surgeon's office for a check and to remove the patch.