Eye Muscle Surgery Update

Hello family and friends. I'm sorry it's taken me a couple of days to send out an update from Scout's surgery, as most of you know, she did quite well. I'd like to thank each and every one of you for your thoughts and prayers. Most of all, I'd like to thank the good Lord above for watching over my baby girl and all the staff involved. If you are reading this and aren't sure what I'm talking about, please read my previous blog post.

We arrived at East Tennessee Children's Hospital about 7:40am Wednesday (04/20/11) morning. We first had to do outpatient registration, while waiting to be called back, we played. They have some neat things for the children to play with while playing the waiting game. Next, we went to the outpatient surgery floor where we waited in a room filled with awesome toys. About that time, Grumpy and Gran arrived. Scout was pulled around in a wagon by Gran. She loved every minute of it. Shortly after that, the nurse called us back to get Scout changed into her cute gown and get her vitals. Overall, Scout did well. She wasn't too fond of getting her blood pressure taken, but she dealt with it. We had an audience (the grandparents) outside the door entertaining Scout while the nurse did her thing. The nurse was so sweet to Scout, calling her princess and blew bubbles with her gum to make Scout smile, laugh, and keep her mind off of what was really going on. After that was a done deal, we were finally placed into a room. After waiting about 30 or so minutes, more nurses came in to introduce themselves, do more vitals, etc. Shortly after that, Scout was given her "happy juice", a.k.a. a pediatric liquid valium. They give children this to help chill them out and relax before going back to anesthesia. It didn't take but a few minutes to take affect in Scout. She was slurring words, smiling crooked, talking goofy, and feeling mighty fine. It was a moment of much humor and helped enlighten everyone. :) After about 15 minutes, she started feeling pretty sleepy. She wanted her mama to hold her, so I did just that. I held her so tight and just prayed to God to watch over her and protect her. I guess that was my first breaking point. I had been so strong up until then. It wasn't much longer after that, the nurse came to get us to take us to another room where a nurse anesthetist spoke to us about the anesthesia and to make certain we didn't have any questions. Dr. Schmitt spoke with us again about the procedure, and a nurse went over medical history, etc for what felt like the 100th time. They explained that they would give Scout gas before they put in the IV, so she shouldn't feel anything. That was relieving to know! After all of that, they wheeled Scout out and we followed until they opened the doors into surgery. Wow, that was soooooo hard. There she goes, no longer in my arms. I can't protect her, comfort her, and love on her. At that point, I had no control. :( My heart broke again. Yes, I cried, I hurt, I couldn't wait to see my baby again. Adam and I went into the surgery waiting room with the grandparents and played the waiting game. After being in there about 10 minutes, I got a call from the nurse letting me know that Scout was officially "asleep" and that she did well. That was relieving, but it wasn't over yet. About 30 to 40 more minutes went by and the receptionist asked us to have a seat in a consultation room where Dr. Schmitt would speak with us about Scout's surgery and how it went. Ahhhh, it was over!!! What a relief! Dr. Schmitt informs us that everything from the anesthesia to the surgery went as perfectly as it could have possibly gone. :) She told us that we won't know how well her eyes took to the surgery until 2 months post op. We go back in a week for her first follow up, then in a month, then for a 2 month follow up. She can start wearing her glasses again tomorrow, but Dr. Schmitt might be able to tell us next week if they are needed at this point. It will take Scout's eyes about 2 weeks to heal, until then, we have to put in antibiotic/steroid drops 3 times daily (it's a challenge), and avoid water and dirt in the eyes. She's also not allowed to rub her eyes (easier said than done) as she can pull out the stitches. Her stitches are dissolvable, and can't really be seen at this point. Maybe once the swelling gets better, we'll be able to notice them. Her eyes are blood tinged in the inner corners where the surgery was performed. It looks like she has a really, really bad case of pink eye. Okay, back to the story. After we spoke with Dr. Schmitt, we all headed back down to the room and waited for Scout's arrival. I guess it was about 30 to 45 minutes before she was brought to us, although it felt like an eternity. The nurse finally wheels her in and she was laying on her belly, balled up, taking deep breaths from crying so hard. Again, my heart broke. :( I picked her up, held her and tried to make her feel better. We kept the lights down low and stayed quite. They said that the blood curdling screams can be a side effect from the anesthesia. She was pretty calm shortly after that and slept on my chest off and on the rest of the day. It was going on 3 o'clock before we really tried to awaken her. That was a challenge, but we made it and finally left for home around 5 o'clock. Once we got home, she perked up quite a bit and has been improving daily since then. Please continue to pray for my angels recovery, as this isn't over yet. Again, thanks to all of you that have prayed for her, thought of her, and checked on her. I can't thank you enough!!

We obviously didn't take our camera for this "adventure", but we always have our phones to take pictures. Check out the pictures below of Scout's surgery day. They aren't the best quality, but it's better than nothing. :)

We've arrived at Children's. Papa and Scout are playing while we wait to be called back for registration.

Scout and Papa in front of the waterfall. There's water flowing between two pieces of glass. Scout thought it was pretty cool.


Now Scout and I pose as Papa takes our picture from the other side of the waterfall.

We are now registered and waiting for the nurse
to call us back for our first set of vital. While we wait, Gran pushes Scout around. Poor baby had no idea what she was about to endure. :(


This nurse was so good to Scout. She blew bubbles with her gum to make Scout smile and called her princess. She even gave her a sweet kiss on her cheek when we got discharged. In this picture, she's helping me get Scout dressed in her gown before getting her vitals.

We are finally in a room and Scout had just been given her "happy juice". It's basically a valium for kids. As you can tell, she was feeling pretty good. Her speech was slurred and she was just plain goofy. :)

After being doped up with "happy juice" for about 15 or so minutes. She started getting a little sleepy and wanted Mama to hold her. This is when my heart broke. :(

As you can probably tell, this is post surgery. She had been sleeping off and on most of the day. Her friend Sam sent her a goody basket which includes the bubbles you see in this picture. They helped entertain her and keep her happy, although it never last long. She felt terrible and was hurting. :(

Here is another post surgery picture. This was about 5 or so hours after surgery. Her eyes were swollen and so was most of her face.

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