Laney’s Surgery

So, when Laney was about 2, a photographer who took pics for our daycare noticed that Laney’s eyes turned in.  It wasn’t very noticeable, and we couldn’t ever pin down which eye it was, so we kind of let it ride for a bit.  Then, last spring, the Lions Eye Institute did a screening at school, and they caught some issues with her vision.  So we scheduled a follow up with an optometrist, who told us that her vision was actually fine, it was just that her eyes weren’t working together; he called it a roaming lazy eye.  At times, only one eye was working, and the other turned in.  He said she’d need surgery, but since we were getting ready to move, he said we could wait and find an optometrist in Louisville. 

We definitely noticed in the last year that her eyes have been getting worse. 

Sometimes the right eye turned in…

…sometimes the left eye turned in…

…and, well, sometimes they both turned in!!

So, obviously they didn’t look like that all of the time, we actually told her to roll her eyes.  But she did have a killer “You are the biggest idiot” look, when both of her eyes turned in!  Anyway, as much as we loved the faces, we had to get it fixed!  So we scheduled her surgery for Friday, January 13th (good thing we’re not superstitious!).  We were lucky enough (sarcasm) to get the first appointment, which meant being at the hospital at 0600… an hour drive away!  Thankfully, Mom & Dad Looten came to help out, and they stayed home with Audrey, so only Daddy & I had to get there crazily early!  And they said Laney was supposed to be in comfy pjs, so no dressing required! :)

Unfortunately, they sent us to the wrong hospital… so we wandered around for awhile, being sent from one surgical unit to another, until they finally figured out that we were supposed to be at a different Jewish Hospital across town… and now we were late!

But Laney didn’t seem to mind- she loved checking out the fish!

Once we got to the right hospital, Daddy ran to get McD’s after he dropped us off… unfortunately, Laney noticed the bag, and since she hadn’t eaten since the night before, she was NOT HAPPY about the fact that she couldn’t have any!  We just kept saying “In a little bit!”  I don’t think she was buying it…

However, once the happy juice came out, things looked up… let’s just say, I think Laney will be an extrovert when she’s tipsy!  (Gee, wonder who she gets that from…)

Unfortunately, the special juice did not make her very compliant… she still didn’t want to put on her hospital gown…

And then they wheeled her out… which was really scary!  Talk about feeling helpless!  The surgery was supposed to take about an hour, and then she’d have about an hour in recovery before they brought her back to us.  The doctor came in after the surgery was over, and told us it went fine, and that they would be bringing her back when she woke up, or coming to get us if they needed us as she was coming out of anesthesia.

Everyone told us that the coming out of anesthesia would be the worst part, and they were right.  I think Laney kind of panicked because she couldn’t see, not really because she was blind, but because her eyes hurt, and they put ointment in them, which had to feel weird.  Anyway, I guess she just started screaming, so they came and got me out of the room to come back to recovery.  That was definitely the hardest part- she wasn’t really herself.  Although, she really kind of was- she was unhappy, and very single-minded!  She decided she wanted the IV out of her foot, and she wasn’t going to calm down until it was OUT.  She screamed and cried and tried to yank it out, so I had to hold her down to keep her from hurting herself.  I tried to sing to calm her down, but she was just out of it.  They didn’t want to take the IV out until she took some pain meds orally, and they couldn’t give her those until she drank something and kept it down, and she wouldn’t drink anything until they took the IV out… it was a vicious cycle, with no end in sight!  Finally they decided to take her back to the room, and see if she’d calm down there. 

It did seem to help when she could see her Daddy, and it definitely helped when she got to open the present we brought for her!  We figured she’d need a pick me up after surgery, so we got her an Ariel doll!  (Funny side story about the Ariel- the doctor said she might have some double vision… after she opened the present, she said “TWO ARIELS?”  Clearly that double vision thing was accurate). After seeing Daddy, and opening her present, she at least calmed down enough to stop yanking at her foot, and took a little nap.

Eventually, she calmed down enough to drink some orange slushy, take some oral meds, and put her pjs back on.  She was not real happy, she kept saying “I didn’t have a very good doctor’s appointment.” 

Poor baby!

We spent the rest of the day (and the weekend, for that matter) relaxing, watching movies, and eating yummy food with Grandma & Grandpa Looten!

And snuggling with Ariel, of course!

The worst part was trying to get the ointment in her eyes!!  The first night it took all of us to hold her down, but eventually she got used to it, and as long as she knew there was a treat waiting when it was over, she was pretty good!  :)  

Anyway, she has healed pretty well, the redness is almost gone by now, and we haven’t noticed her eyes turning in lately.  So, we are praising God for a successful surgery, and so thankful that it went so well!  Although, we will definitely miss the “You’re such a big idiot” face! :)