The Jones Team: Magdalena's Eye Surgery Went Great!

Knock wood, but Magdalena's eye surgery went really really well this morning. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and good thoughts for her!

We got to Casey Eye Institute 6th floor surgery unit at OHSU at 6:15 this morning for her check in. She happily played with the fish tank until she was called in, and we spent some time changing her clothes, reading books, talking to nurses and the anesthesiologist and surgeon, and watching videos on my iPhone. She didn't take too kindly to the grape-Tylenol tinged "drowsy" medication "juice," but I was proud that she did take a sip of the cup before refusing the rest (requiring us to try and syringe it in her mouth, whereupon she immediately coughed most of it back out). Apparently they had to use the dizzy gas on her later, but we were gone by that point.

The docs wheeled her in as she watched streaming Sesame Street on the anesthesiologist's iPhone (so nice of her to do that for us!), and Alex and I went to get breakfast at the first floor cafe. We returned to the surgery waiting room at 8 am and Dr. Karr was out by 8:35 am to talk to us. The surgery itself was short - only 20-30 minutes, which he had told us the day before at her pre-op appointment. But still, it was a very pleasant reassurance for him to come out so quickly and tell us how the surgery went very well. He said there was no unexpected bleeding, and she has all the muscles in both her eyes, with the expected right inferior oblique being much larger than the right superior oblique, which is why she had the surgery in the first place. Apparently some kids who have had a unicoronal craniosynostosis like Magdalena had don't even HAVE the superior eye muscle on their affected side, so it was good to know that Magdalena does in fact have it.

He said that he repositioned and weakened the left oblique muscle on her right eye as planned, and now they should strengthen together. He expects that her slight head tilt will go away with time, and instructed us on the recovery ointment to use, and not to patch her again until we see him on Sept 29 for her post-op appointment. After that, he said time will tell whether this surgery repaired all the muscle imbalances, or if she will need another surgery, but he also said that she may be able to wait up to a few years before having another surgery (which will help with her cooperation level to really asses what is needed).

We got to go in and see her shortly after Dr. Karr left us, and she let me hold her and immediately fell asleep on my shoulder. She still had her IV in as she refused water or juice, but once the nurse refilled it and she got a bit more fluid, they released her to go home. We changed her back to her street clothes, and were home by 10 am!

At home, Magdalena really perked up. She watched some movies, but was ready for water, applesauce, and cheerios in no time. After scarfing three bowls of applesauce, two bowls of cheerios, and some water, she played around for a while refusing to take a nap! I went to get Lucia from pre-school and ran an errand, and she still wasn't napping by 2 pm when we returned home! (Alex was also home, and my parents are staying to help out too.)

Magdalena did ooze a few bloody tears, but not nearly as bad as we were prepared for, and so far her eye is not even red (though she has some crusty blood in her nose, probably the blood just oozed down that way instead of out her eye). She finally took a nap at 3:30 for an hour and a half, and then was up and playing again till bedtime. She ate butternut squash soup and homemade whole-grain bread around one, then cantaloupe, cheese, chicken nuggets, and grapes for dinner, so her appetite is definitely back!

What a difference from her original surgery (see posts from late last June/early July) - it's almost as though she didn't have surgery at all! She did protest the eye ointment tonight, which is to be expected. I am not looking forward to the twice a day applications for the next 10 days, but not much we can do about that. Still, the whole thing is such a blessing and relief, thank the Lord for His amazing goodness and grace. Whew! So glad this one is under our belt!

Magdalena loved the fish tank. First she looked, then she kissed the fish tank, and then she let the fish tank kiss her Pooh Bear. Too cute!