The aftermath

Well, we now realize that the surgery was the easiest part of all of this.  Alex is still wearing the metal eye shield most of the day and it does not bother him in the least.  HE also wears elbow extension splints to sleep to keep him from removing the shield in his sleep.  He does not mind those either - even willingly extending his arms to have them put on.

The eye drops... ah, those are another tale to be told.  Alex needs eye drops 4 times per day as well as an ointment applied before bedtime.  Applying these medicines involve coordination worthy of a two man guerilla operation.  Alex hates the drops and kicks and screams about it every time.  We have learned that the promise of ice cream at the end makes it go a tiny bit easier.  I'll be relieved when we are done with drops - though that is a long way away.  ONce he finishes this course, he switches to another drop.  Sigh.

We head back to Boston this week for a Thursday morning visit to the surgeon.  We have hopes of being done with the eye shield then.  Alex's eye looks good - the redness and puffiness are mostly gone.  Apparently the incision sits just above his iris although we cannot see anything there.  Overall, we feel he is doing very well.

On another note - spring is coming here in the north country!  Alex and Zoe got some much needed outside playtime Sunday afternoon.  The tonka trucks got a workout too - and everyone slept well for all the exercise!

Heading home

Well, we're off to see the surgeon and get Alex's patch removed.  He slept almost 11 hours last night and woke up happy, patch still in place.  We're looking forward to getting home :)

One surgery down!

Well, for those of you who haven;t been checking Dave's Twitter updates today, here's the big update.  Alex had his first cataract surgery this morning.  He was scheduled for 9:15 but didn't end up going back until 10 am or so.  He was a total trooper - even with nothing to eat for almost 16 hours at that point.  Dave went with Alex into the OR and Alex was anesthetized in Daddy's arms.  All the procedures were done after Alex was asleep.  We were totally impressed with how child oriented the staff was throughout the process. (I know that seems obvious for a children's hospital but it was still impressive).

The surgeon came to speak with us a little after noon.  Alex did very well and now has an IOL (intra-ocular lens) implanted in his left eye.  The surgeon also checked the right eye and noted that the cataract seems to be slowly progressing there so that surgery may not be far off.

Alex was sleeping hard when we finally got to go back to the recovery room around 1.  We left the hospital around 2 and Alex was still groggy and wobbly but happy to be with his parents (and his stuffed bear and hippo, who also apparently had a little work done in the OR.  When we arrived in the recovery room, both were seated on the end of Alex's bed wearing their won hospital bracelets and gauze/tape over their left eyes. :) )

It is now early evening and Alex is pretty much our Alex again.  He is full of energy and only mildly wobbly moving around.  He has also been eating and drinking non stop since we got back - so much for the nausea they said he might have!

Tomorrow we see the surgeon to have the bandages removed.  We'll then be heading home.  So far, Alex is pretty much leaving the eye shield alone - it doesn't seem to bother him much.

As always, we are thankful for everyone's prayers and positive thoughts.  Alex came through like a trooper!

Twitter Updates

I'll be posting quick updates about the surgery on Twitter this week: http://twitter.com/dtrandall

Wish us luck!

It's time!

Wow, it has been a long time since we updated here!  Time seems to fly by even as sometimes the days can seem so long.

Alex had his most recent check up with his ophthamologist on Friday (2/27).  For about a week and a half in advance of this appointment, we had been noticing a change in Alex's behavior when he is patched.  When his right (stronger) eye is patched, he is much less active and tends to be much closer to things to see them.  When we discussed this with his doctor, she decided (as we expected) that it is time for Alex's first surgery to remove the left cataract.  All we know at this point is that surgery is scheduled for Thursday, March 12th at Children's Hospital Boston (although we do not yet know which campus).

We'll do our best to keep updating here as we learn more.  We are continuously thankful for everyone's prayers and positive thoughts through this process.

Alex continues to be extremely active and inquisitive.  He has entered the "terrible twos" already with tantrums when he is unhappy with his parents' decrees.  Most of the time however, Alex is loving and sweet.  He loves reading and doing his puzzles - and he continues to learn new words everyday.  The latest additions to his vocabulary include "shower", "Elmo", "zero", and "Read please!"