Surgery Day

Thursday was a big day for Kennedy (as well as Mommy and Daddy). Kennedy had eye muscle surgery to correct something called intermittent exotropia. We noticed her eyes deviating outward about nine months ago and have been seeing a couple specialists since then. It started happening when she was really tired, but then we started noticing it happening in sunlight or when she was looking off into the distance. Long term, it could become a permanent deviation which would negatively effect her vision.

Lots of people have asked me why we chose surgery and not another treatment method. Bottom line, that was our best option. There weren't any other treatment options that will correct the eye muscle. Glasses or patching can help correct her vision, but won't do anything for the muscle itself. So, in order to correct the eye muscle and at the recommendation of her doctors, we decided it was the best option for her.

I started preparing her about 4 or 5 days before the procedure. I wanted her to be prepared and know what was going on so she wound't be scared of going to the hospital. By the time surgery day arrived, she woke up really excited for her eye surgery. This wasn't totally my intention, and I felt a little guilty at her excitement to put on hospital jammies and drink the juice that would, in her words, "fall me fast asleep." 

It was, as you can imagine, really difficult when the moment came for the doctors to wheel her away from me and Greg. Luckily she was sedated enough to not know what was going on, but her mommy and daddy were not sedated. And it was hard. Really hard. The procedure was very fast (thankfully) and we were with her in recovery before we knew it. Once she had come out of anesthesia, had a (rainbow) popsicle and some juice, we were ready to go home.

We figured she would want to take it easy so we planned a movie/rest day. By noon, Kennedy was ready-to-go and you would not have known she had surgery that morning. I'm thrilled to see how quickly she bounced back. There is a little adjustment period following the surgery as muscles realign, (a little crossing and double vision) so we are keeping a close eye on her. We go in this afternoon for a post-op and I am anxious to see what her doctor says.

Hospital jammies, recovery room and relaxing at home. 

 Meet Big Special Bear (Kennedy named it). She has been present for a million movies, puzzles and coloring activities over the past few days.