The Petersen Family: Addy's Eye Muscle Surgery

Addy had her eye muscle surgery on Tuesday morning. She was not able to drink anything from midnight on before her surgery, and wouldn't you know that was the night she wakes up asking for her sippy cup! Poor sweet girl. I tried rocking her, hoping she would fall back asleep, which she did for ten minutes. Then she reached for her crib, so I put it back in, and as I tried to sneak out, she said really quietly "I want my sippy"....ahhhhhh. I told her I would go get it, knowing I wasn't really going to. Luckily she fell back to sleep waiting for me! We got Hailey up and ran her over to Aunt Katie's house. Hailey doesn't get to go to her house too often, and now that she has baby kittens over there, Hailey was BEYOND excited. She told me "this is the best day of my life"....haha, she is so cute. We made it to the hospital by six and checked in. Addy usually wants to eat as soon as she gets up in the morning, so I thought it would be hard to hold her off, especially with a vending machine staring at us in the waiting room, but she did fine! She is such a good girl! It took a little convincing for her to get her hospital bracelet on and gown. We told her they were for princesses, and she did pretty good. They had a little push car and some cool toys for her to play with. We met with her surgeon and anesthesiologist, and they made us feel pretty calm about the surgery. Even though it was an outpatient surgery, the thought of having her put out and her eyes cut made me feel terrible for her. To make the process of taking her from us less difficult for her, the nurses put her in the little push car and let her "drive" it back. They said they put the mask on her and she was out fast.

Her surgery took about twenty minutes, and then we had to wait for her to wake up, which took about fifteen more minutes. Once she woke up, they sent us to the recovery room where there was a big soft recliner for me to sit it. A sweet nurse brought her to me and I rocked her for a few minutes. She was wrapped up in a warm blanket, and cuddled so nice. She felt so good in my arms and I was relieved to have her out of surgery. This small surgery had me so worried, I cannot even imagine going through something harder with a child. I really feel for those parents who's children have illnesses and diseases and are in and out of the hospital a lot. She cuddled for only a few minutes, and then started to wake up more. Then....she saw her IV in her hand and started to get very anxious. Poor thing, nothing made her happy. The doctor had warned us that she would most likely act this way. The nurse, who called herself Aunt Vickie, brought her a tiny apple juice box and an orange otterpop, Addy's favorite! She didn't want the juice, and nibbled on the otterpop, but she was still not herself. I felt so bad for her. She kept saying "I wanna go home", through sobs. It was heartbreaking and frustrating all at the same time. We drove home with her hysterical the entire way. Once we got her home, then next three hours were pretty rough. She didn't want us to hold her, but she didn't want us to be away from her either. She sat on the couch for three hours watching TONS of tv. She ate fine. Her poor little eyes were swollen up to her eyebrows, and she had bags under her eyes. The whites of both outer eye sides was very bloody looking, and there was a flap of skin. It looked so painful, we felt bad for her. The doctors said it would just feel irritated, so that made us feel better. The worst part was getting gel into her eyes. We had a VERY difficult time doing it, because she is so strong, and putting it under the eyelid was hard because her eyes were so swollen we couldn't grip her skin to get it in there. Poor girly screamed her head off, and I think Hailey cried even worse. She does not like to see her little sister in any sort of discomfort. That afternoon Addy was playing more and up off the couch, so that made us feel better. She went to bed perfect and slept all night.

She must have been pretty worn out, because I had to wake her up at 8 o'clock so we could take Hailey to school, and that NEVER happens. She scared me a little bit, because even though she was awake, she wouldn't open her eyes for about ten minutes. I was beginning to think they were swollen shut. Big sister got her to open them and she gave us a little smile. Katie and Allie and my mom came over in the morning to help get drops in her eyes, which was again traumatic. She just looked so sad and not herself. About an hour later, she was cheerful and started playing with her toys. Thursday we headed up to Pinedale for Grandpa's burial. She did pretty good all weekend, but was not 100% herself yet. She got bursts of energy and played, but for the most part, she was less playful than usual. By Monday morning, she was pretty much herself again. And, on a positive note, she let us start putting the gel in her eyes without any tears. She would even lift her upper eyelid for us....what a good girl :) Also, we have not seen her close either eye or squint to look at anything....YEAH Addy!!