Post Surgery

Thanks for all the prayers for Parker today!  This was definitely the easiest surgery we've been through so far.  Park has been running around the house all day like nothing happened.

I'll be honest.  When my alarm went off this morning at 5:45, I was not thinking nice thoughts about tear ducts in general.  But we made it to the Hamot Surgery Center by 6:30.  Park was so quiet on the ride there that I thought he had fallen back asleep...  until I hear him screaming "kismas lights!!!!" 

Wow.  Easy, morning person.

The actual surgery began around 7:30 and I was talking to the doctor by 8:00.  We decided right before to go ahead and do both eyes even though his right eye was a lot worse than his left.  So Dr. Sala reported that at this point both ducts are open.  The first thing he did was stick a wire down through the tear duct opening in his eye and another one up through his nose.  When they meet, he knows the tube is open.  Then he inserted the balloons to expand the tubes even futher.  After that he flushed a yellow tinted solution through the tubes to make sure he could see it drain out his nose.  Too many details?  Sorry :)

The doctor did mention that his right side was a little tricky - something about having to work his way around some bone - but that he was optimistic that this was going to work.  But then he started talking about the fact there's still other things that can be done if this doesn't work.  He wants us to wait 8-12 weeks before determining if this surgery did if fact fix the problem.  We're praying that it did!!

When I got to Park in the pediatric post-op area he was still asleep.  The nurse transfered him over to me and he slowly and easily woke up.  (SOOOO much easier than the tonsil surgery!!)  And then he looked up at me with blood streaming out of his eyes.  Yep, a little freaky!   After an hour in post-op they removed his IV and we were set to go. 

As soon as we got home he tried to climb up in his highchair while asking for oatmeal.  And since then he's been totally fine.  He has a runny nose, which is still coming out bloody, but other than that mess he's good!!!



right before they took him away!



posing post-surgery for me




again



cutest little hand





being silly!  see the bloody nose??



Back to the surgery center... again

On Friday we will be making our FOURTH trip to the Hamot Surgery Center.  Two surgeries for Jake and now two for Park!  The nurses are going to know us by name.

When Park was born his tear ducts never successfully opened on their own.  At 9 months he had a procedure done in the doctor's office where they probed both of his ducts in an attempt to get them to open - see that post here. 

There is a 90% success rate with the type of procedure that Park had done.  And for almost a whole year we thought we were in the clear, his eyes seemed fine!  Then he literally woke up one day and the tears were back.  Since he was 18 months at this point there was no more constant gunk, just constant tears in the one eye.

Because the probing was unsuccessful, our doctor recommended further surgical treatment.  A newer form of treatment is balloon catheter dilation, in which a balloon is inserted through an opening in the corner of the eye and into the tear duct. The balloon is inflated with a sterile solution to expand the tear duct. It is then deflated and removed. 

So that's what is going to happen on Friday!  It's a simple procedure but Park will be under general anesthesia, which he tolerated well when he got tubes in his ears.  Would you please help us cover him in prayer?