The Petersen Family: Addy's Second Eye Surgery

Our sweet Addy had to have her second eye muscle surgery. She has something called Strabismus. In her case, she has to work constantly to align her eyes together. How frustrating that must be, poor thing. Before her first eye surgery, she didn't really have a dominant eye, as both eyes were drifting out pretty much equally. We were told after that surgery that she might do have to have it again sometime down the road. She had done pretty well, but we were noticing her drifting again, and closing her eye more often. The problem with not getting the surgery is that it could turn into amblyopia, were she can actually lose vision in her eye, pretty scary. Luckily this time she only had to have one eye done! We had prepared her in advance and tried explaining a little bit to her, but not a whole lot. She's so scared of everything, we didn't want to completely terrify her.

She had her surgery the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. She wasn't allowed to have anything to drink after midnight, which was a bit tricky because she had a slight cough. We got there really early, and waited for about an hour. She was SO good about not eating and drinking. Addy is one who wakes up starving and wants food right away, so this was pretty good for her! Hailey was very concerned and wanted to go, so we let her go to school late. Everything was going great, until the anesthesiologist came in and tried to take her back. She was the sweetest lady, but Addy was not having it and got big tears in her eyes, which made Hailey and I tear up. She tried talking her into walking back with her, but Addy wouldn't have it! I told her it would be best just to carry her, and that she was going to cry no matter what. She was SO sweet to her, and carried her off. You could tell she felt really bad for Hailey, who was crying. I guess they do love each other after all haha!

After thirty minutes, her doctor came in and told us everything went well. What a relief. It's always so terrifying to have your children put out. I'm such a worrier and think of all the sad stories I've heard about things going wrong. After he left, the anesthesiologist came in and knelt down and talked directly to Hailey. I think she understood the sisterly bond, and felt so bad for her being afraid for her little sister. She seriously had watery eyes as she explained to Hailey how she took good care of Addy when she was back there. She wasn't even talking to us, her parents haha. It was very sweet.

After a little while longer they came and got us to go the recovery room because she was waking up. She was pretty out of it, and was confused, as to be expected. Such a difference from the last surgery. Hailey saw her eye and started crying again, poor thing. The nurses were so good with both girls, offering them juice and snacks. We only had to stay in there for ten minutes, then we were ready to go home.

Addy had a rough couple of days, but after that, she did awesome. It was a GIANT pain in the butt trying to get drops in for the first three days, but she did much better after that. We are a bit nervous because instead of her eye going out....it goes in now! But, the doctor has assured us that it will adjust itself with time, so we are hoping that is true.