The Big Day

Chase has survived his surgery remakably well! The trip up to Saskatoon was easy; he slept, ate and watched Baby Einstein. I am very grateful my mom was able to come up with us. We even took her to Fuddruckers (this is our traditional supper place in Saskatoon, at least the first night there) and she happily had a veggie burger and bought us cookies lol. We all stayed calm the night before surgery and Chase slept quite well so we slept pretty good too! We woke him around midnight for a final meal and surprisingly he did not get too upset about not eating in the morning. Nervousness set in as we were drinking hot chocolate and waiting to leave for the hospital. We registered at 6:30 and then there was a very long wait for the anestheologist and doctor to come up and talk to us. We did not know until the last minute that they were likely going to do both eyes but I am glad that was the decision. The staff was nice; they had brought me up a rocking chair so I would be able to nurse and rock my baby in comfort after he came up from recovery. :) Chase was getting tired but would not give in and sleep. I cannot believe he was not screaming for food. It was nice to have 3 pairs of arms to trade off and we did a lot of rocking and pacing and singing. Finally they came to get him and I cried... though I was told later that HE did not cry at all down in the operating room. The anestheologist was careful to talk to him and us and let Chase get used to him before taking him into his arms and walking away. What a brave big boy he was!

The wait after that was horrible. It seemed to last forever and every time I heard a baby cry, I popped head out of the waiting room to check if it was him. Finally, they came and told us that he was in recovery and would be up as soon as he woke up. When they finally brought him to us, he was still pretty much out but they immediately handed him over and with eyes welded shut, he cuddled in and started trying to go through my clothes to nurse lol. He latched on like when he was newborn and would not let go for anything. It was a little awkward as he was still hooked up to IV and such but I knew he was starting to be himself when he tried to sit up (eyes still shut tight) and switch to the other side to eat some more. It was wonderful to see his heartrate drop into the calm relaxed range as soon as he hit my arms.They told us we could go home but I insisted on staying until I actually saw him wake fully. I wanted to make sure he could! I am deeply thankful I did not have to watch them put him out or stick the IV in him as we could see multiples holes in various places where they clearly made numerous attempts to get things in him. *sigh* His chubby little arms and hands and feet make things difficult medically apparently.

He woke up soon after and honestly, his eyes did not look all that bad. We were expecting something along the lines of the vampires from New Moon. They were very red on the sides where the doctor had worked but honestly it was not too horrible. The nurses said most kids come out looking like raccoons with the bruising and swollen but he was neither! There was no bleeding and hardly any discharge- amazing! All he wanted when he woke fully was MOM and more food. Jon did not take it personally, he was relieved all was well. The doctor told us that eye muscles were very very tight on both sides and we were wise to opt for both being done. Already they looked so much straighter.

We took him back to the RM house and he fought a nap for all he was worth and eventually dad was the only one who could get him to pass out. Fair trade off for his earlier spider monkey clinging to me! Aside that, he was fine. Not queasy stomach and he ate himself silly- just tired and not as smiley as usual. He was doing so well later that we ran out to Wal-mart to buy The Blind Side so we could have a quiet family movie night. He was tough to get to sleep; kept waking up and rolling around restlessly initially but once he was out, he was good for the night. Next day he woke up with big smiles... our boy was back! After a quick check-in with the doctor, some lunch and a quick stop at Indigo books, we headed home.

I am amazed and impressed by our little man. He came through everything so much better than expected and is recovering well. I love seeing his eyes moving in sync and how mch straighter they are. Patching is down to one hour a day for the time being which is so much easier. The salve is another issue (ugh ugh ugh) but it gets done. After today, he only needs it once a day for another week-hooray! The kid is made of tough stuff and he definitely took it all better than his parents! I hope this is the only surgery he will need but time will tell. At least we know we can make it through some hard stuff. Now we just have to survive checkups, an MRI and who knows what else. *deep breath* One day at a time, right?