Charlotte went under anesthesia on Thurs. Feb 24th.
First--a shout out to my Aunt Jean...THANK YOU for watching Kate and Jack. I know it was long and I'm sorry it took 5 hours but it was so much easier not to have the kids around so we could just be with Charlotte. You are amazing to do that for us! Thank you!!!
Anywho--It was only an eye exam but she had to be put under to get a real GOOD look at her eyes. She even had some pictures taken! She was SO brave--a trooper and she did really well.
To calm her down before we went to the next waiting room, we thought it would be SO fun to make funny pictures. And once she started doing that, she was much happier. And she was SO funny too. Just full of giggles! I love her so much.
The good thing was, there was nothing done to her except eye drops to dilate her eyes (in the 2nd waiting room) and whatever they do in the O.R. to take pictures and to get the good look of the eyes. The nurses were so impressed with how cooperative she was with the drops. They kept saying they wished all the kids were this good! I'm not surprised. She's such a good kid when it comes to these types of things.
She was given some verced to calm her nerves before going back to the O.R. Now THAT was really funny! She was hilarious!! But when they have a short time under anesthesia, the effects of the verced aren't good. They are really emotional and upset. So plus' and minuses to that stuff. We didn't really realize the hard time verced would give so I think IF there's a next time, we'll forgo it.
The hardest part was the goodbye, really. I think every time that is the awful part but I knew she was going to be fine and the recovery was going to be okay--sort of-- and temporary.
It's sad to look at these photos. I didn't realize (to me) how swollen her eyes were. And she just looks so sad.
She's drinking a rootbeer slushy.
It was so hard to see her this way and not be herself. I know she was frustrated too. But thankfully we were in recovery for just an hour or so- so we were able to leave and help her get better the rest of the night at home. Primary Children's treat the kids so well. They are amazing.
Results of the surgery:
The Dr. (who is incredible) came in to talk to us before we were allowed to go back to see Charlotte. Gave us the pictures of her eyes. And GOOD NEWS! NO pressure from the brain onto the eye (no tumor!!) and her left eye has gotten better so she doesn't need glasses! Well, at least for now. Chandler family eyes are NOT good. But he wants her to go without them for 2 months and to check how her eyes do without the glasses. The only concern is how she falls a lot and that she might hurt her eyes but we can get non prescription lenses so she can have safety glasses. So we'll decide what we want to do. But yay!!!
It was a hard day but we got through it and had good results! The kids both got a happy meal on the way home to celebrate!!! We are on diets so we had to wait and go home and eat a boring meal. And no toys were included. Sigh. :)
