Yesterday, January 31st, 2014, Troy had his first (and hopefully only) eye surgery. ??His Dr., (Brendan Cassidy), is wonderful and one of the premiere children’s eye specialists in AZ. ?? Dr. Cassidy has been seeing Ty since he was a baby and performed Ty’s second eye surgery (Amy Leverant did Ty’s first one and she is a great Dr. too). ??Troy’s eye issues aren’t as severe as Ty’s (Ty has esotropia/strabismus in both eyes, fourth nerve palsy and cortical visual impairment of the lower field). ?? Troy has esotropia/strabismus that concentrates mostly in his left eye. ?? Surgery was performed on both eyes though.

At 7:15 AM, he was put under general anesthesia and the muscles on the inside of both eyes were detached and reattached to a different position. ??He was under about 30-40 minutes and the Dr. said the surgery went wonderfully. ??Yay! ??Jim and I both left Phoenix Children’s Hospital hoping that we would never have need of another over night or surgery stay ever ever ever again! ?? We love PCH but we have HAD OUR FILL over the last ten years and we are ready for a new season!!!

When Troy “woke” in post op, I could tell instantly that he would be sick. ??He just had that look. ??They rush them out of post op pretty quickly these days. ??Jim suggested they would rather kids be vomiting on our turf. ??LOL. ??We made it to the cafeteria to pick up a little breakfast before he started throwing up. ??All over daddy. ??Perfect. ??(Insert Ty laughing saying “You are being sarcastic mommy!”)

He would open his eyes for short bits or mumble a word but he was super out of it. ??When we got home, he didn’t seem to be in pain but he was clearly under the influence. ??He couldn’t sleep very long because bouts of vomiting would wake him up. ??If he drank a sip or tried to get up it would start all over. ??He was highly agitated and didn’t know what to do with himself. ??He would walk down the hall, squat and stare a minute, lay down and sleep five minutes on the floor, move to a different spot and repeat. ??He even stood beside me on the chair and slept standing up with his head on my shoulder. ??So sad. ?? At one point, he crawled into the bottom shelf of the bookshelf to sleep. ??We couldn’t tell if he didn’t know what he was doing or if he was seeking a dark cave to whole up in. ??He hid in my closet at one point too. ??Maybe he wanted a dark place to shield his eyes?

By 1:30 PM, 6 hours later, I was getting nervous because he had vomited 16 times and I was concerned that we were going to have to readmit for an IV and zofran or phenergan. ??He finally fell asleep for a good stretch though and when he woke up he was a new kid. ??This morning, he seems back to normal (just a bit crankier than normal). ??He told me his eyes hurt before bed so I gave him some motrin but I only needed to offer medicine that one time. ?? We have to put an antibiotic ointment in his eyes daily for the next 10 days (a $200 medication of course) but other than that, he should be good to go. ??It will be about two weeks before the Dr. can make a guestimate as to the overall success of the surgery. ??This isn’t actually an eye issue. ??It is a brain issue. ??For this reason, the surgery doesn’t “heal” it. ??It only makes things easier on the brain to align the eyes properly and we have been trying to train his brain for the last year to accept these changes so we’ll see what he can do on his own now. ??Ty’s two surgeries were very successful but he had those surgeries at a younger age when the brain had more plasticity so that was an advantage for Ty.

I can already tell a difference though. ??He definitely looks straighter. ??Hoping and praying the alignment will continue to improve and that it will HOLD. ??Time will tell. ?? These pictures are a little icky but probably better today than they will look 3 days from now. ??The body take 2 to 3 weeks to absorb blood so his eyes will look yucky for a little bit.

Here is a comparison shot. ??Picture on the left is from last month. ??You can see the left eye turned in. ??Picture on right this morning. ??Definitely straighter.

 

Post surgery in Grandma’s arms.

Sleeping in the bookshelf (he opened his eyes when he heard me with my camera).

I know. ??Yucky. ??I wanted to keep this as part of the story though.

 

I think gauging alignment is tough right now in part because the blood pooling in the corners eliminates the inner whites of the eye so all that discoloration makes it more difficult to see how straight he is (or isn’t). ??I am hoping for the best though.

Thank you so much for praying for Troy yesterday. ??That always helps mama’s heart tremendously.