Still Squinting

We took Gramie to OMSI before she left so she could see the kids enjoying her gift, our one-year membership. We haven't been for several months, and Ryan had a great time. In addition to his usual favorites of the cranes and sandbox, he also built a styrofoam building and played with playdough. He is still closing this one eye off and on, but I think it's less than it was. The doctor said to just wait and see how he does until his next appointment at the end of February. She thinks his brain is just trying to adjust to his new vision. I'm thinking of calling him Popeye though!

More Details

I know my last post about the surgery was very long and detailed, but I thought of some other things that might be of interest to anyone who might be undergoing a similar surgery. In one of my earlier posts I wrote that they had told us that the surgery was quick and involved very little pain, that he probably wouldn't even need Tylenol after the initial hospital dose.

Well, we found out the day before the actual surgery at our pre-op appointment that they would actually need to do a little more extensive surgery than they initially thought. The surgeon said they would need to cut and reposition four muscles instead of just two because of the kind of crossing Ryan has. Instead of a quick surgery, she said it would probably take two and a half hours. In reality it took just under two hours. Dr. Goodman said that his eyes would probably ache for a couple days, and we should give him double doses of Tylenol for the next couple days if he needed it. He was in quite a bit of pain the first day, and we certainly gave him the Tylenol as soon as he was able to get the next dose. His eyes were quite red for over a week, and he even had some bruising under one eye.

I was really impressed and proud of my little boy. He's normally quite a whiner, but he was an absolute trooper! The stitches dissolve, but they feel grainy and sandy the first several days, the doctor said. He wanted to rub his eyes, but he was pretty good about leaving them alone. We had to put in an antibiotic gel into his eyes three times a day, which he abhored! But overall, his recovery has been very quick, and he seems to have matured a bit since this whole ordeal. He's been brave at his two follow-up appointments and very cooperative for the doctor. We won't know how successful the surgery was for another month or so, but so far it looks quite good.

More Presents

Gramie came to help us out with Ryan's surgery and ended up helping us move, celebrating Christmas with us, and celebrating Ryan's birthday some too! It's hard to believe Ryan will be four next week. Gramie gave him some Finding Nemo undies, a puzzle, and some skates (complete with helmet, knee and elbow guards). Daddy and I were skeptical if he would even want to try them, but he loved them! Our new laminate floor is really slick, but once we put him on his new road rug, he did great. He did far better than I thought he would, and he really loved skating. Who knew? It will be nice when the rain stops to take them outside, but then we will have to gear him up with helmet and pads!

Late Christmas

We didn't really celebrate Christmas fully last month because we were going to move and we knew my mom would be coming for Ryan's surgery. So while she was here, we finished giving our gifts, opening gifts from friends and family, and had a nice dinner to celebrate a late Christmas.

As you can see, Ryan is closing one eye a lot since his surgery. I don't know if he's adjusting to his new vision or if that eye hurts more or what. That eye was bruised and more red than the other one, but it's always been the eye he seems to close more.

We got this road rug for Ryan last summer, and he's been asking about it ever since (so much for being able to buy presents with him in attendance). He loves roads and cars, and this is perfect for him, plus it adds a nice effect to our new living room. Ha!

Surgery Details

After playing for a while in the play room, the nurse called us back to his bed and gave him some meds. The nurse was impressed with how willingly he took his meds. They gave him some Tylenol and some Versed. The Versed took about a minute and a half to start working, and he was pretty loopy! It's supposed to relax the patient, but it relaxed me too.

About ten minutes later they walked all of us down to the operating floor. Poor Ryan was trying to tell us something, but all I could understand was "go back." I knew he was a little scared but the Versed seemed to be helping him. We were allowed to wait with him in the pre-op room, and we talked to the nurses and the anesthesiologist who would be attending Ryan. Next, Dr. Goodman, our surgeon, came in and talked to us for a while.

Then the dreaded moment was upon us. I was worried about how he would respond when they took him from us, but he was so out of it, he didn't notice a thing! We waited for almost two hours, and then the doctor came and said everything went great. What a relief that it was over and my baby was all right!

We only had to wait another fifteen minutes or so before they came and got one of us to go back into the post-op room with Ryan. Ed was gracious enough to let this worried Mommy go, though I know he wanted to go too.

Ryan was still out when I got back there, and they had just given him something for nausea. I guess because he was sweating profusely they knew he was nauseous. The nurse told me that for some reason, the eye muscle surgery patients always seem to get very nauseous. I talked to him and stroked his head and arms. He stirred a little, but not too much. When he finally roused somewhat, the first thing he said was "Where's Daddy?" I was going to go swap out with Ed, but they said it was time to take him back upstairs to his room and we'd pick up Daddy on the way.

So back we went to the recovery room for another hour or so. All the other children in our room were awake and eating popsicles and drinking soda. They don't give the eye muscle surgery patients anything since they are usually so nauseous. I felt bad for Ryan, but he didn't seem to notice. We had removed his eye patch, and he could have looked around if he wanted to, but it was just too painful to open his eyes. He laid there quietly with his eyes closed for over an hour. Finally, we determined he wasn't sleeping, only keeping his eyes closed and resting. So they got his vitals again, and then said we could take him home. We got him dressed, gathered his things, and home we went, approximately six hours after we arrived.

I guess Ryan's flu bug was a blessing in disguise because on the way home he told us he thought we was going to throw up, so we had time to pull over and get him out of the van before he actually vomitted. If he hadn't been sick just the week before, I know he wouldn't have known what that feeling was. That was the only incident he had, and he rested his eyes the rest of the way home. What a relief to be home and to have the surgery behind us.

I'm so grateful to God for watching over Ryan. He is so faithful! I am grateful too for all the prayers that have been prayed on Ryan's and all of our behalf! We had as much peace as I imagine one can have during something like this. Thank you, Lord, family, and friends!

Early Morning Before Surgery

The alarm is so unwelcome at 4:00am! We let Ryan sleep as long as possible, but we still had to wake him at about 4:45am. I was just going to put him in the car in his jammies, but he insisted on getting dressed. So after we got him dressed, grabbed his blankie and favorite buddy (Sprinkles), we were off to the hospital. I was hoping he would go back to sleep on the ride in, but he was wide awake.

After we checked in and filled out the appropriate paperwork, we were taken to his bed where he was given some jammies to wear (very scratchy and uncomfortable looking to me...not to mention pink). After some preliminary vitals (he weighs 34 pounds), we were allowed to go into the play room for a while. Ryan rode each of the three little cars they had there, but this little coup was his favorite.

Playhouse

Aunt Darcy and Uncle Steven (and cousins Hannah and Rachel too) gave Ryan and Abby this cool playhouse for Christmas 2004, but we have never had enough room to put it up, even outside in our small yard. So while we were unloading the truck and unpacking boxes, we set up the playhouse for the kids to play in. It is enormous, and they had a blast! We left it up for about a week, and Gramie played games with them inside it. Ryan saw the picture on the box of kids playing Candyland inside the playhouse, and he just had to do that too!

First Meal

It's finally moving day, and after loading the truck all day, we made our way to our new home. We ate our first meal sitting on the floor before unloading the beds and bedding from the moving truck so we could put them up and go to sleep. Ryan was fussing about finishing a couple of bites of his quesadilla (not unusual for him), and the next thing I know, he threw up all over the floor. He had thrown up the day before, but he seemed to be fine up until this incident. As it turned out, he was the first in a series of five of us getting the stomach flu, one right after the other. Daddy was the unlucky one to get it this evening.

Future IT Guy

Ryan loves to go to work with his Daddy, and every once in a while he will take Ryan in with him when he's working on a Saturday. One of the reasons he likes to go is because Daddy often will get donuts for breakfast!

Of course just having Daddy all to himself is what he likes best. This particular Saturday, Ryan turned out to be pretty helpful. Daddy had to install a software patch on about 70 plus computers, and he had Ryan go all around the office and turn them all on.

Then Daddy wrote a script and taught Ryan how to go through the steps to install the patch. Ryan thought that was pretty cool!

Haircut & Backhoes

Daddy took Ryan with him to get his haircut yesterday, and he was able to convince Ryan to get his hair cut too! This is only the second time he's had his hair cut by a "professional." Usually I do it, but he's afraid of the clippers (surprise, surprise) and has a hard time sitting still for slow-poke Mommy. It's a relief to hand that job off to someone else once in a while.

This is the excavator Ryan got in trade for the dump truck.
He can't wait till we move so he can get it out in the dirt!