Surgery #13

Hayden and I all snuggled in at the hotel after surgery.  He was a little cranky and cuddling seemed to do wonders--along with some singing and funny noises.

Since we were unable to get Hayden's blood drawn at home, the hospital in Michigan agreed to draw blood for a Phenobarbital level while he was under anesthesia.  Success was found with a 24 gauge needle.  His level tested at 15.  I can't remember what the theraputic level is, but I believe this is on the low side.  I left a message with the level at his neurologist's office to see if any changes needed to be made.  Hopefully, the dose can remain the same. 

According to Dr. Trese, surgery went "reasonably well."  He said that by using the enzyme that was extracted from my blood, he was able to remove a bunch of scar tissue from the retina that he would never have been able to otherwise.  He was able to get a really good look at the retina and discovered that a tiny part had reattached!  To keep the give the retina the best chance to reattach properly, he placed an air bubble in Hayden's eye that will disappear in 7-10 days.  Thank goodness we drive to Michigan.  With a bubble one is not allowed to fly.  Hayden will be bummed to know that he cannot lay flat at all (except for diaper changes) for the next 2 weeks.  Wouldn't you know, he just figured out how to roll from his back to his right side.  The poor guy even has to sleep sitting up.  Should any bleeding occur in the eye, being upright will allow it to flow to the bottom of the eye away from the retina.  If that weren't bad enough, his eye drops have increased.  He has to have Prednisolone (steroid) 4 times a day in his left eye, Atropine (dilating drop) 2 times a day in the left eye, Gentak (antibiotic) 4 times a day in his left eye, and Travatan (eye pressure) once a day in both eyes.  Travatan is what makes his eyelashes so thick.  It even gets worse.  When we aren't watching him, we have to use elbow restraints on him so that he cannot touch his eye.  Since he doesn't use lefty, we will only restrain righty.  Maybe this will make him have to use lefty???  How is he going to hold his pacifier if he can't bend his elbow.  At night we have to patch his left eye in addition to the splints.  The next 2 weeks should be interesting.   Will anyone get any sleep?  How will Hayden deal with not being able to kick and roll to his side?  He gets such great joy out of both activities.