Ethan's Eye Surgery

Ethan's eye surgery was November 7th. The pre-surgery consult with the ophthalmologist revealed that the tear duct was 100% clogged. It's not unusual for a child to be born with a clogged tear duct. Many of those clear up by the first birthday. If they do not, they aren't going to clear on their own. We were anxious to get the surgery done, but had put it off until we had moved back home and were back from vacation. Ethan is of the age where he was starting to get increasingly annoyed with the constant need to clean his eye, and the semi-regular eye infections were just no fun. Interestingly enough, after the age of 1, a clogged duct begins to grow shut, dropping the success rate after two years of age rather significantly. 

Before

We had to check in at the Health Campus (5 minutes from home) at 6:15am. Ethan was the first surgery of the day at 7am! We literally pulled Ethan right out of bed in his jammies, wrapped him in a blanket, and right out the door into the car. I was concerned about how his morning would go. He wasn't allowed to have anything to eat after midnight, which in essence meant he hadn't eaten since 7pm the night before. When we got to the Out Patient Surgery center, he was distracted enough by his surroundings that his hungry belly was not an issue. We dressed him in his way too large fuzzy yellow gown and slipper socks that he refused to wear. The bracelets on his ankle made him very upset. My favorite story from the prep area was the nurse telling prepping to give him the liquid anesthesia. She was so concerned about him spitting it out. I told her that he takes some nasty tasting medication every day and now actually enjoys the flavor. She didn't believe me about how he'd react. She gives him the liquid in a syringe. He doesn't fight her. He swallows it right down and then asks for "more." She couldn't believe it. After the medication began to kick in, Ethan got a rather glazed and they took him back though the double doors to surgery. They said he'd cry on his way back, but he didn't.

The surgery itself took about 15 minutes. Around 7:30 the doctor came out to tell us that it went well and that they'd be back out to get us after he started to wake. The surgery requires no incision, so there were no post surgery restrictions, just eye drops and nose spray for the next 10 days. They came to get us around 8. He was angry waking up--Confused and hungry. Things got much better as he started to be able to eat his puffs and drink some water. Things also improved after they removed his ankle bracelets. We were released and home by 8:30. His eye was maybe a bit puffy (gone in about an hour), and he had a tiny bit of nose bleed, but that was it!

After we got home, in true Ethan fashion, he was ready to go--wanting to climb the slide and run all over the downstairs. What he didn't realize is that he could barley sit up by himself, and was quite frustrated that Mommy was trying to help him do something so basic. Daddy soon left to go to work, and Ethan and I watched Sprout in bed for 45 minutes before sleeping for a good 2 hours. When Ethan woke up, he was back to normal. Incredible to think he'd had surgery just hours before. He needed to be under close supervision for the first 24hrs after the procedure, so I had taken the day off work, and we had the whole afternoon ahead of us! We visited Daddy at work and got a snack at the coffee shop. We went to That Fish Place and looked at the fish and animals. All in all, a nice day!

After!! :)

Next day, back to school and work as usual! It's amazing how great his eye looks now. :)

His follow-up is next week, but I can't imagine that it would be anything but good news!