We had surgery on Thursday. Oh did I mention that already?
Oh yes, that was the previous post huh????
Well without much more wasted time, the outcome.
Savannah went into surgery at 10 am, 45 minutes late, and the surgery lasted for two hours. The intended goal was to remove the cataract in the left eye and possibly insert a implant lens. (We knew Savannah was in good hands, not only cause we have learned to trust her docs, but because God had arranged for Savannah to have the head of anesthesia, a middle aged man so skilled in his profession that his usual cases were newborn babies undergoing open heart surgery.)
After satisfying the hunger cravings while Savannah was in surgery, we went back up to the waiting area where we were joined by the nursery director from our church. It is such a blessing to be around other godly people, having so much support, and to be able to talk about whatever distraction we can think of, just so that the waiting isn't so long during the surgery times. We found that to be true the other times, and were relieved again this time.
Savannah came out of surgery without the cataract, and without an implant lens. The lens of the eye sits in a balloon-type sack, just in front of the retina. With pediatric cases of Glaucoma, the natural balloon-type sack that holds the lens can develop a hole because it is over-stretched. When this happens, fluid from the retina area is able to make contact with the lens and cause it to get cloudy (cataract). If a hole is present, they are unable to use the balloon-type sack to insert an implant lens because the implant lens is unable to be held securely and could fall into the retinal area, which is not a good thing. So due to a hole in her eye, a lens was not possible.
In the first recovery room, the nurses tried to wake Savannah up somewhat. Savannah woke up, ripped her IV out of her arm (apparently there was some squirting blood), messed with the eye shield, and basically threw a little fit before they could get her calmed down again. So when she was brought to us, the nurses warned us not to be worried, they cleaned her up as much as possible before we saw her, and told us not to wake her up but let her sleep it off so she was more rational. Two or three hours later we were able to get two or three popsicles in her tummy and headed home, still wearing the hospital gown since she was unwilling to change out of it.
We were also blessed that Zoe's Sunday School teachers were watching Zoe at home and we hadn't needed to worry about her.... and when we arrived home, dinner was waiting, the house was no longer a pre-operation disaster, and all the laundry was washed and folded, waiting to be put away. It was such a huge blessing, especially considering the next 24 hours.....
While I made a run up to Publix for some more Tylenol, everyone else was able to get Savannah to eat some solid food - delicious Chick and Dumplings- and rest some more between the "My eye hurts! It's poking me in the eye!" screams. Later, she wanted to take a bath, but that led to a meltdown since we couldn't take the patch off..... everything was just meltdown, after meltdown all night long. We finally subdued it with cuddle on the couch and watch cartoons. (cuddle so that we could hold the arms down and she couldn't rub at her eyes, cartoons to hopefully distract.) Eventually she fell asleep on the sofa, and then came in and slept in Mom and Dad's bed.... but dad slept on the sofa then.
This morning She woke up miserable since the patch was still there. So we hurried out the door, since staying home would just be misery, and headed to Build A Bear. Before surgery, the hospital had given her a BAB teddy, but it had no clothes, so we decided to go get an outfit to use up the time before the doctors appointment and distract her attention away from the eye bandages.... (okay, so maybe there was some bribing there. Yes I bribe my kids...sometimes....) Well, once the mall stores opened (we mall walked for 30 minutes) we found red outfit and silver sparkly shoes for her teddy, and headed to the doctors office for the bandage removal.
Her doctor removed the bandage and attempted to check the condition of the eye to make sure that the eye was healing properly after the surgery. (Did you know that the eye is the fastest healer in the body, followed by the mouth?) Savannah grew more and more impatient with the exam, causing the doc to have to order a sheet wrap. (For those moms out there who have never had to experience this, count your blessings many times over. Basically, if the docs can't see well enough to get a clear picture, they call in the nurse and wrap the big kids up burrito style (like the newborns - aka swaddle style) so that the kids can't move from the neck down, and then hold their head with the other hand so that the doc can get a good look at the parts of the eyes that need to be checked. Oh, and did I mention that I don't know how they can manage to do that without like ten sets of earplugs???? Savannah's screams ring out through the entire floor, and every time they do it I have to leave the room. She screams for mommy to save her, as I am as helpless as I could ever be.) She has to go through it, I have to put her through it when even the thought of it sends her into utter hysterical breakdowns.... (Did I not mention we were an emotional wreck?) and mom's not much better off....
Anyways, after many a tear from both of us, the exam is done, Savannah is getting a big mommy bear hug and Doc says, "I think there is a possible retinal detachment, it is a possible rare side effect of any eye surgery, caused by the eye pressure dipping too low even for as short of a period of time as a couple of hours. There was no sign of this being an issue with the retina yesterday when we were in surgery, so this is a new issue. This is the eye that has had many issues, and has already been through a lot. We are calling the retinal specialists we work with and getting you the earliest appointment this afternoon. Does it matter where the doctor is located?" Gulp.... uh what???? I think there was something about let Savannah play with the toys in the waiting room..... I was fogged by then and just walked out that way anyways whether they actually told me to or not I am still a little fuzzy.
I borrowed the phone in the waiting room, called Mike crying, said, "get your butt out of work (hmm, maybe I could have said that slightly nicer, but I was emotional) and get down here we need you now. They are calling retina specialists and getting Savannah an appointment for first thing this afternoon, and we need you." My crying brought Savannah over to the phone, and then Zoe (waiting room was rather large, but for some reason kids have supersonic ears when they desire it, and toddlers follow whoever they know....). The receptionist grabbed Savannah's attention just in the nick of time though and distracted her with a box of stuffed animals, and let her pick out four to take home (beanie baby size thankfully). When I got the details about the retinal doc, I called mike back a second time, and he headed our way.
In the car, I grabbed my cell phone, (which I never remember to take anywhere so it basically lives in my car) called my mom who works in the area of town where the retinal doc was located and asked what her afternoon plans where... I mean, other than being at work. She willingly cancelled a lunch date, and took an extra long lunch, when she found out that it was complications from Savannah's surgery, and we headed for the retinal doctor. Mike met us there, and Grandma ended up staying in the car while Zoe took a long nap.
The retinal doc is not a pediatric doctor, but if he ever needs a recommendation for working with kids, I would give him and his office a raving review. Savannah wasn't anywhere near the cooperative phase anymore -hungry and thirsty on top of the bad day blues because they didn't want food on her stomach if the doc wanted to rush her into surgery. He was patient, and we tried a few different things... Finally Savannah allowed a sonogram of her eye, which showed that there is the possibility of a detaching/detached retina, but also a large amount of blood "clots" caused by the surgery. He explained that until the eye heals enough to filter the blood out of the eye caused by the surgery, that the surgery to do any retinal work was riskier and would cause more vision loss than it would be to wait a week and reattach it if the diagnosis was correct in a week. So more appointments were made, and we were sent home....
(If all the parts of the eye is confusing you, see the interactive model
here.)
but it was 3 in the afternoon and none of us had ate lunch. So we found a storefront that said eat smart, eat fresh. So we parked and headed to it. The name of the Dinner? Zoe's Kitchen. (Mike took pictures with his cell phone, but it's too hard to get them on the blog. I'll take them back soon and take the real camera along.) Oh, and did I mention that there was a Savannah Special on the Specials board? It was just too perfect. The food was delicious too.
I dropped grandma back off at work, Mike went back to work too, and the girls and I stopped at the grocery store and got the free cookies and a few other essentials, and went to burn off some energy at grandma and grandpa's house. Then I loaded the girls in the car with the intention of going home. But Savannah wanted to go by and say hello to her friend Laura, which is also code for I want to stall going home a little longer. Since I enjoy the rest of Laura's family so much, we stopped, spent about an hour (or was it longer?) playing, updating, and decompressing.
We finally made it back home, with the prescriptions that we had to fill at the very end of the drive, about 8 o'clock, a full 12 hours after leaving home that morning.
