Bea's Eye Surgery
We're finally home, after being up since 4:30 am, and am happy to FINALLY report that Bea is on the road to recovery with good spirits and is able to open her eyes, Praise God! We are so blessed for all of our friends and family who were covering us in prayers today!
I took the camera with us and here are some pictures from the trip. I will post the rest below with the pictures:
Here is Bea 'belaxing' on her hotel bed.
After stopping at McD's at 8:30 pm to get Bea her final meal before midnight we arrived at the hotel at 9 pm. The hotel was below our 'standards' but I was too tired to care and knew we'd be getting up super early to head to the hospital.
Bea playing around on the hotel bed
After fooling around for awhile she finally went to sleep around 10 pm, Mr. B and I were out shortly after that. Around 1 am I heard Bea get up to use the bathroom...I thought she was taking a long time but as I was starting to get up to check on her, she got back in her bed. Mr. B got up at 3 am to use the bathroom and woke me up after finding blood all over the bathroom! We turned on the lights and found that Bea had a bloody nose earlier (it was all over her pillow, and the tissues next to her) but did not wake us up! The silly goose! When we woke her up at 4:45 am she was grumpy from not enough sleep and was scared. She told us she had changed her mind and didn't want to have eye surgery anymore. I felt bad that she was scared and we read the Deut. 31:6 verse
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; He will never leave nor forsake you." We also prayed and that helped to relax her.
Bea in her bed at the hospital
It was finally here in her room at the hospital that God washed over here with His calming presence and she began to feel more comfortable with moving forward with the procedure. We explained things that would be helpful but not frightening. Our nurse was great.
Bea about to get wheeled back to the receiving room, right before heading to the OR.
We were able to accompany her there and her stuffed animal 'Benji' even got to ride with her to and from surgery. They had given her some liquid meds (orally) to make her sleepy/loopy and she was cracking us up! She was telling us the walls were moving, and she told the nurse that she (the nurse) had 3 eyes! The great part was that they don't even put in the IV at this hospital until the kids are out cold, and since it was taken out before she was fully aware of what was going on, she has no idea she even had and IV...which is great cuz she was worried about 'needles.' As we're waiting for the nurses to come and wheel her back, I hear the Dr. fussing with a patient next to us who his having problems. He was loudly telling the patient to open his eyes, alarms were going off, and I seen the nurse running to get meds to put in the IV. I have NO idea what was going wrong, but I know something 'not right' was happening, so I immediately started praying for the guy and the Dr. Thankfully a few minutes later I heard the guy come around and everything was settled...talk about a nerve shaker for me as I'm sitting with Bea waiting for her to undergo surgery!
The nurses come and wheel Bea off to the OR and she's so sleepy she's find with Benji and the nurses keeping her company. Mr. B and I head to the Family Waiting Room to get a beeper to be paged when the nurse updates us. I start Tweeting and texting friends and family to report on Bea's status.
In the waiting room I was trying to find that 'calm' place to wait out the surgery, after reading my Bible verses and praying, I was calm enough to read a recreational book. The nurse called and said surgery had started and she would call again in 45 minutes to an hour. Mr. B decided to get some snacks and I hear a loud banging noise coming from the snack hall. I look over to see what it is and to my horror I realize that it's Mr. B! He's rocking the snack machine back and forth to get his stuck candy! Guess he really wanted that candy ;) LOL! So we start eating our snack and we get called again, this time saying the Dr. wanted to talk with us. My heart dropped as it had only been about 20 minutes since the first call! I felt all these negative thoughts coming to mind and I prayed for a sense of calm waiting in the conference room....
Bea 'recovering' right after surgery
After about 10 minutes of waiting (which seemed FOREVER!) the Dr. came and and told us everything went great! Praise God! And even better than expected! She only had to operate on the outside muscle of each eye, and did NOT have to operate on the bottom muscle. I was happy to hear that! We headed to Bea's room to wait for her to arrive from the recovery room.
Bea arrives and she's groggy from the Demoral they gave her and NOT happy! She is upset that she can't open her eyes 'because there is crunchy stuff in them!' and she keeps sitting up and laying down in pain. By the time the nurse comes in to flush her eyes with saline (which Mr. B had to hold her down for) I am reduced to tears and had to head to the bathroom. Thankfully while I was gone they removed the IV as well so I did not have to witness that and be tempted to pass out ;) I pray for Bea while I'm gone, and when I get back Bea is still VERY upset, I do what all moms would to and try to comfort her by singing. Thankfully she falls back asleep! There is LOTS of bloody tears pouring from her eyes (thankfully we had been pre-warned by the previous nurse) and it freaks me out so Mr. B takes over eye wiping duty. She is given meds for nausea and a sedative for the 2 hour car ride home. She will NOT open her eyes. We decide to go ahead and leave while she is sleeping and hope she slept for most of the ride home.
Bea asleep with her hand in her Skittles box
I had promised her Skittles if she did well and she woke up in the car asking for Skittles, Sprite, and lunch. Thankfully we had the Skittles and the Sprite in the car, and Mr. B was able to make a quick detour to Burger King for her. We then proceeded to Chik-fil-a for our lunch. Just after getting through the drive-thru she tells us she needs to go potty, and I think of all the IV fluid she has been given! I have Mr. B park so he can eat his food and I can take Bea potty. All the people in Chik-fil-a looked at me like I was crazy carrying Bea in but she couldn't see so I wasn't about to let her walk. We get fed and on the road home. Thankfully after eating she dozes back off and wakes up occasionally for a few Skittles.
Bea at home
We finally get home and she wanted to be put in my bed and she still wasn't wanting to open her eyes. More praying, Tylenol, and eye drops and finally she is suddenly able to open her eyes all the time and no more watering eyes! God has been ever present today with us! I can finally say she's really in 'recovery mode' and doing wonderful!
Bea close-up
Here eyes are red but that should only last a week, no swimming or playing in the dirt for a week. We'll know in a month if the surgery fully corrected her exotropia, it's 80% successful the first surgery. I know that God will heal her!
posted by Mrs. B @ 5:27 PM
1 Comments:
Good Lord woman! Another emotional blog for me!! I'm so happy to hear that she's doing great! It's awesome that you are so grounded in your faith. Prayer always makes a difference!
Christy
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