The Surgery
well, the deed is done. victor and i woke up at 4 am this morning to feed caleb (he couldn't be fed up to 4 hours before the surgery). then we left the house at 5:30 am to get to texas children's hospital by 6. the poor guy was so hungry and sleep-depraved by the time they took him into the o.r. at 8:30. at around 9:15, dr. paysse (along with a guy i assume was a resident- he didn't say anything. just stood next to her and followed her around) came out to tell us that everything went well and to give us some instructions for the next few days. at about 9:30, we went into the recovery room to sit with him and feed him.
the recovery room was interesting. i had never been in a room like that before. it was just like what you see in the movies, where everyone is in one giant room. there were several other kids in there at the time we were there. you couldn't help but look over, eavesdrop on some of their conversations, and wonder what they came in for.
anyway, the first moment i saw caleb, i gasped a little. i mean, i knew it wasn't going to look pretty. the doctor had told us that several times. but as many times as you're told, i don't think you could ever prepare yourself for seeing it in person... much less seeing your own child in such a condition. the nurse told us she was watching my reaction because in the past, other moms have broken down in tears when they saw their children after this surgery. i didn't cry, but i had to catch my breath a little. we sat with him as he slept and ate. it was so strange... he looked awake because his eye was wide open and he was staring straight at me, but he was really sleeping. (victor and i are going to have a hard time figuring out when he's awake and when he's asleep for the next few days.)
victor and i are so thankful... for many things. God is so good to us. we are so thankful we have caleb, that he's healthy, and was able to handle the surgery and anesthesia well. we're also thankful for all of our friends and family who were (and still are) so supportive of us, encouraging us, and praying for us. we really felt surrounded by all of your prayers.
thanks, everyone... and if you feel inclined, please continue to keep us in your prayers as caleb recovers from surgery and as victor and i learn how to care for him during this time.
blessings!
posted by graciechiao @ 10:34 PM
2 Comments:
this is fantastic news!! it must have been interesting figuring out if caleb was awake or not. :) does this mean everything's ok and caleb will have both eyes/eyelids functioning correctly?
well... yes, and no. his eye is now open enough to where it's being stimulated sufficiently, and so there's less of a chance that he develop problems like lazy eye when he gets older. however, it doesn't (and won't) look totally normal. he won't be able to close his eye fully (and when he looks down, his lid doesn't fall, so you end up seeing a lot of the whites), and he still needs to use his brow to lift and lower that lid. on top of that, the right eye now looks nothing like the left eye.
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