Sling

The name of the surgery that Anya recently underwent is Frontalis Sling.  You can google it and find out details, including some youtube videos that I have purposefully chosen not to watch.  From what I understand, the surgeon made two incisions in the edge of her eyelid, near the lashes, and threaded a silicon string through it.  The silicone string, or sling, was then attached through her lid up to three places in her eyebrow.  It is now the muscle of her eyebrow that will control the movement of her eyelid.

Currently, that isn't happening too much, which is to be expected.  First, there is still a lot of swelling in her lid.  Second, it will take time for her body to learn how to do this, yet her body will adjust and learn how to do it without any teaching.  We are told that it is something that just happens.  Third, the sling will stretch out a bit in the beginning.   In the meantime, her eye is open all of the time - the opposite from the past nine months.   We won't know the extent of success of the surgery for another seven to eight weeks.  In rare instances, the sling can be too tight, causing the lid to be too far open, or too loose, causing the lid to be too closed.  If this were to happen, it can be adjusted, although paired with a quick trip under anesthesia.

Right now, Anya is pleased with the outcome of the surgery.  She very much likes it when others notice too, so if you see her, please don't feel that you need to avoid commenting on it.  She may not have liked people asking what was wrong with her eye, but she definitely likes people telling her how beautiful her eye is.

Tomorrow not only is an appointment with the surgeon to check in on how she is doing with everything, but also an appointment with her retina specialist who will look at her good eye.  For all that we have been through in the past week dealing with her right eye, her left eye remains the top priority (and worry), so please think good thoughts for a stable report.