Eye Muscle Surgery

4:30am Wake.  Get ready.  Put a sleeping baby in the car to drive to Primary Children's Hospital.

6am Arrive at hospital and wait to check in.  Gwenny had fun playing in the waiting room while we waited for our 'check in' pager to buzz.

6:30am After we get registered and tagged, we get taken back to a room to get vitals and put G in some hospital PJ's.  Mama (being the goofball that she is) asks if they have pink ones, but they only have blue. Sigh. Surprisingly, not one nurse or doctor calls Gwenny a boy the whole day!  (This made Mama VERY happy!)  The nurse that checks us in initially is wearing pink scrubs with froggies on them.  I find this comforting in a silly way as Gwenny's nursery was decorated in froggies.  It was my sign that everything was going to be ok.

 

7am Moved to a different waiting room.  Dr Young, Gwen's surgeon, comes to see us before the anesthesiologist to see if I have any questions and to explain the procedure again.  ("Tightening" one side of the right eye muscles and "loosening" the other side.)  The Dr makes a purple mark on the right side of Gwen's forehead, indicating the right eye.  Gwenny is giving a "calming" medication since I am not allowed into the operating room with her.  We then meet the anesthesiologist who explains her role, how she will be monitoring G and then takes Gwen out of my arms to the operating room.  Gwenny seemed to like the doctor and gave her a hug.

7:30am Surgery.  My dad and I are sent to a waiting room for families where we spend the next 1.5 hours reading magazines and making small talk.  Dr Young, Gwen's surgeon, comes out after the surgery to tell us that everything went well and we can see Gwenny in about 20 minutes.

9:30am A bit later they take me back to post-op where I find my little sleeping beauty.  With eyes closed I could only tell there was a little swelling on the right eye and it was pink.  When Gwenny finally woke in the recovery room, she was groggy at first but drank her required amount of apple juice and kept it down.  When she was more then half way through the bottle, she took a little break to smile at us.  Prior to the surgery, the hospital staff was very clear that we should expect a cranky and almost inconsolable baby after the anesthesia.  Gwenny didn't cry at all.  A few minutes after the first smiles, she started making noises and wanting to be passed back and forth between Pa-Pop and Mama.  We were released to go home with antibiotic drops for her eye twice a day and alternating over the counter Tylenol and Ibuprofen.  By the time we got to the car, Gwenny was ready to play with her singing book again.

Gwen has been tired all day, but smiley and cuddly.  She takes her meds well, and is eating and drinking well, too.  She hasn't had any problems thus far.

I am extremely happy with how well today went.  I can't begin to describe how wonderful all of the staff at Primary Children's Hospital have been to us.  Everyone was overly kind to the point that I felt not only were we being treated as patients or clients, but almost waited on.  These people truly made a difficult experience the best it could have possibly been.  Thank you to all of them!  You people truly love your jobs and make my mommy job so much easier.

Also, a big thanks to my Daddy for being there for me and his grandbaby today.