Emily's Surgery Day!

Strabismus Repair

Last month we were in to see Emily's Opthamologist and we discussed with him a procedure that Emily could have done called Strabismus repair. Basically it is a manipulation of the eye muscles to bring the eyes into alignment better.  Her right eye was left with no sight following her surgery as a baby and the eye does not align properly with the seeing eye.  This was something that we knew could be corrected when the time was right and we were in no rush.  We discussed it with Emily and her doctor and agreed the time was right.

The night before Emily's Surgery was so fun for her!  She was in the tub following her pre-op instructions (she read every word and followed the directions) when the doorbell rang and it was her cute friend Emma Nash.  She had come to deliver the cutest little package of fun things for Emily! She brought a cute cd, bath products and fun treats for when she was feeling better! Emily was THRILLED! Then the doorbell rang again...

It was the Humphreys with the FUNNEST balloon! It had a message attached and everytime you hit the balloon we could hear their good well wishes! SOOO cute! They also brought the softest teddy bear which went right into her hospital bag! And lots of cute cards and treats!  SO FUN! Emily was so thrilled and wasnt expecting anything!

The little package also included some new books about a girl named Clementine. Emily had the 1st one read that same night!! She LOVES to read!

Here we are arriving at the hospital with our admitting papers. Emily was getting a little upset that I was taking pictures...but she will thank me later ;).  Ill post more about that later. Emily was a trooper. She showed not a moment of nervousness at this point and I was impressed. I had butterflies in my stomach wondering how I could put her through this.  I wondered throughout the day how we ever got through a brain surgery with her...

Emily arrived at her little bed. Bed 31.  She unpacked some of her stuff and we put on her cute hospital wear.

She was not thrilled to look like a candycane but I told her she looked delectable :). The little bear did not leave her side...he even went into the OR with her. I wasnt even allowed in the OR but Mike was able to go in with her.

We had a lot of waiting time prior to surgery. Emily read and read. I played a fun game on my phone called Diner Dash. Emily and I would pass it back and forth trying to get our restaurant bigger and better. It was a fun app to get through some waiting time.

  (Emily and I are so NOT ready for a job in the restaurant business. Our customers were not happy with us.)

Mike was on trauma service but popped over from the Foothills which is conveniently right across the street.  He passed some time by reading through Emily's THICK hospital file shown here. Some hard memories are tied up in those files. Soon it was time for surgery.  Emily had a few moments of nervousness and a few tears but was such a trooper. I was truly amazed.  She was in surgery for just about an hour and another hour in recovery. We were paged when she was being returned to her room and we beat her there.

Now Emily has had a general anesthetic numerous times and she usually wakes up very irritable, panicked and sick.  That is what I was preparing myself for. However, she reacted totally differently. She was sooooo sleepy.  We would try to get her up to drink something and she would sleep sitting up!  Any way we placed her she would just mumble to us and go back to sleep. She was quite sick and could not drink anything! After discussion back and forth with the endocrinologist and her anesthetist we came up with a treatment plan and finally around 10pm we passed most of our criteria for discharge and we were on our way home!  I was relieved...we did not want to stay the night! 

Emily was still very sleepy and I got her into the wheelchair and she fell asleep. She looks like she is in pain here...but she isnt...she is fast asleep.

I got her into the van and..yes..she fell fast asleep.  I got her home and tucked into her bed and she fell fast asleep and slept alllllll night.

As far as how her surgery went...we think it went great. She is in very little pain and had just tylenol in the hospital to manage pain. I was completely surprised.  Her eye is very red and slightly puffy and she keeps it closed. The few times she has opened it for me and looked at me...I can notice a difference already.  So we are optimistic that we will get a good result! I will post more on her recovery and results! So far so good!

Thank you to all of you for your sweet gifts, phone-calls, emails, texts, messages, etc. I love technology...Emily felt so loved and supported!!