Eye Surgery Update

Julia's November 1st surgery (to correct lateral strabismus in both eyes) was postponed until the 7th because the hospital where the procedure was originally scheduled didn't have a pediatric intensive care unit. Although this was a little frustrating for us it was better in the long run. The surgery was performed at Sutter Memorial, which is where Julia was born. I was thankful that it had been moved to such a good facility. SMH has always taken such good care of Julia. With the amount of time we spent in the emergency room last year I felt as if we lived there. It's pretty bad when you walk into the ER of a hospital in a metropolitan area like Sacramento and everyone knows you by name! The guy at registration even memorized her birth date! Anyway...having surgery at SMH was like going home! We knew that Julia would receive the BEST care there...and we were right!!!

We had to arrive at the UNGODLY hour of 5:00 AM to check in for the 7:00AM out-patient procedure and do all the pre-op stuff. Julia was a trooper and played up till the time that she was taken away for sedation. The anesthesia was my largest concern...after her little trouble with chloral hydrate I was a teensy bit worried about her "going under." Thank heaven those fears proved groundless...she woke up a little ahead of schedule with a cheerful smile. We were all more than a little surprised. We were in the car going home by 10:30 AM.

Julia's eyes were red (very, very red...it was a little strange to see this blue iris rolling around in a bright red eye!) but she was back to her normal happy self within hours. The red faded over a period of days from red to yellow (like a bruise) and within a week it was as if nothing had happened. We never even gave her Tylenol after the initial dose immediately following surgery. She never fussed or rubbed her eyes much. We did use antibiotic eyedrops for 14 days. We are thankful that there was no sign of infection.

Her eyes are remarkably straight now and they are working together! Her skills have really improved...particularly walking in her walker and (our old nemesis) dropping objects at midline. It is amazing to see her reach out and place an object in a container as if it were nothing...we have been working on this skill for over two years. I suppose that it could be coincidence...or it could be the corrected vision...I don't know...I'll take it either way! It's probably a little of both!

We won't know for several weeks how successful the surgery actually was, but for now we see a definite improvement. We knew going in that there was a 30-40% chance of her needing a repeat surgery to fine tune things. With her level of hypotonicity there is always the chance that the muscles will need to be adjusted again. This is quite typical for individuals with Cri du Chat Syndrome.

I couldn't end this post without thanking Dr. John Tong and his staff at Medical Vision Technology. The level of service that they provide is far above par...they are wonderful. I can honestly say that I had no qualms about having Dr. Tong do Julia's surgery...he really is the best! And a big thank you to Deni who made all this happen on the scheduling end...we appreciate you!!