Post-Op Appointments

Today we had our post-op appointments.

First we saw Dr. Patel, the surgeon. He said everything looks good. He also said that Danny's eyelid was opening more when he lifted his eyebrow, which when he said that it was, but I hadn't noticed before. I asked about the swelling and he said that would decrease over time. Since those are muscles he isn't used to he strains them more, thus swelling occurs. I'm not convinced, though, since he had the swelling before the surgery. Dr. Patel again told me that this was a temporary procedure to get the eye open so the vision could develop. The silicone sling will lose its elasticity over time and Danny's eyelid will start to drop more. When Danny is 3 or 4 they will do another permanent surgery. We will have to see Dr. Patel again in 4-6 months.

Next we went over the Dr. Hoffman, the opthamologist. The nurse tested Danny's eyes using a Teller Acuity Test (http://www.stereooptical.com/html/teller-acuity-cards.html). She said his vision was good. The doctor looked at his eyes and said everything looks good. He doesn't need any patching or glasses. His eye is staying moist and I just have to make sure it stays that way. We have to see Dr. Hoffman again in 2-3 months.

Two Week Update

It's been two weeks now and the "drops" I have to put in his eyes is really an ointment. It's called "Refresh PM." It's a pain because whenever he sees the stuff coming toward his eyes, he squints them shut, and I end up getting the ointment on his eyelashes instead of his eye. But after a little stuggle I usually get it in. And it's not that much of a pain because I only have to do it a few times a day.

Did you notice I said he squints his eye shut? It closes a lot more than I thought it would. He can squint it completely shut. When he sleeps it still is slightly open, but not too much. A lot less then right after his surgery. And when he is tired it looks like his left eye is the one that has a problem because it is closed and the right eye stays open. Overall, though, he looks a lot cuter. If he is awake and looking up or forward, you can't even tell he ever had a problem. I do try to keep his face out of the wind more and ease him into brighter light so his eye can adjust, but it seem to bother me more than him.

His right eye is still swollen but it is not surgery related. Who knows if they will ever figure out what is causing that.

I keep reminding myself is that this surgery was just to get his eye open so his vision could develop. I am going to go over all the surgery options with the surgeon before doing the permenant proceduce to see if there is one that will let his eye open and close more naturally.

We are having our post-op follow-up appointment November 19th so I will post more then.

Post-Op Day 2

By day two, Danny was back to himself, only he seemed slightly happier. Although his stitches concerned me , he seemed to have no problem with them. I think I gave him regular Tylenol but just as a precaution; he wasn't acting like he really need it. It was so nice to see him with two open eyes!