Post Op: Great News!

Ethan has done great post operatively! Yesterday it took him until about 5pm to get brave enough to open his eyes.  Once he did, he found out that it was ok, and decided to start playing with Aidan.  They played together outside for about an hour and then Ethan hit his wall and was tired.  We did a quick supper, bath, and then off to bed.  I was a little worried about how he would react when I put the arm restraints on because he hated them so much in recovery room.  But, he didn't fuss at all!  He woke up once at 3am wanting more Tylenol and a new ice bag on his eyes.  This morning when we woke up, his eyes were stuck shut and we had to get them open.  He still wasn't so sure about opening them, and preferred to wear sunglasses and feel around like a blind person. :)

Off to IA City Ethan, Grammy and I went for a post op visit.  Nana, Aidan and Adam went to Chicago for Connor's birthday.  Dr. Drack is very, very happy with how Ethan is doing.  She was very impressed that he felt well enough last night to play, that he had such a good night overnight, and said that already this morning, his alignment measurements were better that preop and he was using his eyes together.  We are just suppose to encourage Ethan to use his bifocal more now that surgery is over.  She thought things looked so good, that we don't have to go back until Oct. 7!  Since Ethan felt so well, Grammy and I decided to make a short stop at the outlet mall in Williamsburg on the way home.  Ethan was a very good shopper!!  His reward for having such a good postop visit was to get to ride 3 rides at the mall and actually have Mommy put money into them so they really moved!!! :) 
Thanks to everyone for all of the prayers, well wishes, and thoughts over the last few days.  Things still hurt some and he still is on Tylenol and ice bags, but otherwise doing very, very well. 

Resting at Aunt Barb's

We made it back to Aunt Barb's. While Ethan was in recovery, he was very agitated.  The recovery nurse asked if I would come back and try and help to settle him.  She said typically they don't ask parents to come back, but with my surgical nursing background, they felt it was appropriate.  Ethan was pissed off that he had elbow restraints on and an IV in his hand!  The more he threw a fit, the more croupy he sounded.  After multiple attempts as taking the restraints off, having to put them back on, trying to keep him from pulling his IV, giving him Morphine to settle him (didn't work), and giving him some humidified O2, the recovery nurse finally decided to call and see if we could just take the IV out.  Anesthesia said yes!  Boy, he was much happier without all the wires.  They placed an ice bag over his eyes and said most kids don't tolerate it or leave it alone.  He has wanted the ice on his eyes, which will just help make things better faster.

After he settled down, we finally got to meet back up with Daddy and Grammy.  Ethan let us spoon feed him 2 popsicles and declared that he was ready to go back to Aunt Barb's.  He has been resting comfortably ever since we got back.  Aidan was down for nap already by the time we got back, so he has not got to see Ethan yet.  None of us have really got to have a good look at his eyes open, because he's only barely opened them about 5 times so far.  Dr. Drack said that he may not want to open his eyes at all today, and that was ok.  We do have some eye drops we need to try and get in him 2 times today.....wish me luck with that!

He sorta looks like a wounded Civil War soldier with the ice wrap around his head, but if the ice is on his eyes, he can't rub them.  I'm afraid tonight may be a LOOOOONNNNGGGGG night! :)

Out of Surgery

Ethan is out of surgery.  We haven't actually seen him yet.  Dr. Drack came and spoke with us.  She said that the inner rectus muscles which cause the crossing were attached very close to the colored part of him eye.  The oblique muscles which caused his "trick" were very large.  She was very positive that we will see a very good result from the surgery.  She said the blood vessels oozed more than normal during surgery, so she had them draw a CBC on him and we will get those results tomorrow when we have our post op visit.  Because of the extra oozing, his eyes will be more impressivly red and for a longer period of time.  But, she said it will not affect the success rate of the surgery.  He will most likely will not want to open his eyes for the rest of the day and may have some bloody drainage from his eyes and nose.  She gave us some ointment and drops that we need to try and get into his eyes that will help with infection risk as well as pain control.  Otherwise, Tylenol should do the trick.  Hopefully we'll get to see him in about 30 minutes or so and can give another update then.

Off to the OR

It's about 8:00 am Thursday morning.  Ethan is back in surgery right now.  The morning has gone really well.  We took off from Cedar Rapids about 5:30 this morning. 

Everyone here is super nice and made us feel really comfortable.  Ethan's ambulatory surgery nurse, Julie got him checked in for surgery.  Turns out Adam went to Iowa State with her and they hung out together some in their college days.  Nice to see a "familiar" face.  While they were taking Ethan's vitals and such, he kept hiding under his blanket hoping everyone would go away.  

Checking out the fish



Aidan gave Ethan this picture to take along to surgery, since Aidan couldn't go with him.

After that, Ethan got to go off to the play area.  He was having so much fun.  The nurse anesthetist meet us there.  Turns out, she was born and raised in Ames.  Her parents and brother still live in Ames.  We had a lovely conversation about how she used to work at Hickory Park and how wonderful Great Plains Pizza is!  YUM!  I told her how I am a surgical nurse in Ames and she immediately knew one of our anesthesiologists too.  She suggested we give Ethan some Versed.  It is a medication that made him feel groggy and has amnesia effects.

Just when he was starting to act "goofy" they came to take him away.  He went right off with them, no tears shed at all.  It's so nice that he didn't even realize that he was really taken away from us or scared because of the drugs.  Surgery will take about 2 hours and 45 minutes.  They also said that they keep their kiddos in recovery for quite a while and let them wake up slowly on their own.  Dr. Drack will come and talk to us after the surgery is over to let us know how everything went.  We'll update more later today after surgery is over.  

The Big Day

Thursday is surgery day for Ethan.  I can't believe it's almost here.  Doctors have been mentioning surgery to us since Ethan was 6 months old.  Every doctor's appointment we would always wonder "Is this when they are going to say he needs surgery?"  It's hard to believe that day is finally arrived.

We are leaving tomorrow night and heading to Cedar Rapids to stay with Adam's aunt and uncle, Barb and Al.  Our Grammy and Nana are coming along as support crew for us as well.  Ethan has to be checked in at Iowa City at 6:15 am and surgery will start about 7:15.  I believe they had previously told us it would take about 1 hour per eye.  We will go back to Cedar Rapids after we are discharged on Thursday and then have a post op appointment on Friday morning.

On Sunday night when we were putting the boys to bed, I told them they had 3 school days and then it was Ethan's surgery day.  Ethan gave a very excited "Woo Hoo!!"  I'm so glad he'd not scared...yet.  He's always been such a brave little boy at all of his appointments and so willing to cooperate with any testing they've wanted to do.  I hope he proves to be the same on Thursday.  He can recite all of his "rules" for after surgery (no rubbing his eyes, no water in his eyes, no dirt in his eyes, but he must get drops and cream in his eyes).  He also keeps telling everyone at school that his eyes are "sick" so he needs surgery and they will miss him while he is gone.  The teachers are a little nervous about what things will be like that first week back, but they do such a great job at ACPC that I know there will be no problems.

I'm so used to looking at Ethan with his crossed little eyes.  It really is a part of who he is.  I'm a little sad to be straightening them out, but know that it really is the very best thing for him. 

Here's some "before" pics for you.  We'll be sure to put some updates on here over the weekend along with some "after" pics. 

1 year

18 month

2 yr-first day with glasses

3 year

Little brother cheering him on!