Yesterday Connor had Bilateral Strabismus Surgery (eye muscle surgery.) I've gotten lots of questions and so I decided try to answer them all here.
Strabismus surgery is surgery on the extraocular muscles to correct strabismus, the misalignment of the eyes. With approximately 1.2 million procedures each year, extraocular muscle surgery is the third most common eye surgery in the United States.
Connors eye muscles are weak causing his eyes to go inward when he looks at things. Normally just one, but both are weak they just happen to not usually go inward at the same time. I know what you might be thinking, you've never noticed right?? We have grown so use to it that we dont really notice too, however after seeing the eye doctor I went back and looked at photos and yep there it is almost every time. Below are a few examples, though most times it was very subtle it was always there.
One thing I want to make sure everyones knows is this was not a cosmetic surgery. Honestly Connors eyes never bothered me one bit, until we saw his eye doctor and I realized it could cause big trouble if left unfixed. What happens is when one eye is straight and the other turns in your seeing two different pictures, no problem because the brain is so amazing that it learns to ignore one eye. The problem is if it ignores the one eye for long enough it could think it needs to always ignore that eye. Meaning Connor would only see out of one eye. First we tried Patching to see if that would help.
We patched for three months before going back to the eye doctor. We alternated eyes patching for two hours everyday. Our hope was patching would strengthen the eye muscles enough so that he wouldnt need surgery. Patching helped and strengthened the eyes alot, however it didnt fix them. So we scheduled surgery for the day after Christmas. The thought process behind this was he wouldnt miss school and I wouldnt miss work.
On the morning of surgery Connor was his happy self. Once at the hospital he knew something was up. Bless his heart hes been to Childrens Hospital enough to know if you have to go in a room with a actual hospital bed, its not good. He mostly laid around but he would literally fidget with his hands the entire two hours we waited for his turn for surgery.
We met the anesthesiologist and he filled us in on the risk and procedure. He explained that with Down Syndrome there is a increased risk for the heart rate to slow down. ( Which we knew because hes had so many surgeries.) He then explained that with this type of surgery there was a even bigger risk that his heart rate would drop. So they decided with our permission they would like to go ahead and give him the medication to stop this just in case it were to happen. Of course this made us even more nervous than we already were and we absolutely wanted him to receive the medicine.
They brought Connor " happy juice" and within minutes he was playing with the sheet on the bed and laughing hysterically. That stuff is truly amazing! They came and got him and he went without a care in the world.
Then we headed to the waiting room to wait. It took about an hour, the doctor then met with us and explained that everything had went well and as soon as he was awake they would call us back.
Within 10 minutes they called us back. We went in a empty room and waited for him. All of a sudden we heard ear piercing screaming sobs and we both looked at each other cause we knew it was him.They rolled him in the room as he threw himself all over the bed while he screamed and cried ( his eyes were shut but he was very much awake.) They told me I could get him and I scooped him up and rocked and talked to him, but nothing helped. He would scream and sling his head back toward the floor. His tears were pure blood and they poured down his checks and I had to inwardly beg myself not to breakdown . I gave him to Daddy who tried to comfort him too, but nothing helped. Finally we played childrens songs on you tube and he stopped crying. The nurse brought us apple juice and said as soon as he drank they would take the IV out and we could go. I asked him if he would take a drink he screamed " nah". We tried to make him take a drink and he screamed and fought us. The room we were in was only separated from the other rooms by curtains and all the other kids were waiting to be took back for surgery and I could tell that the nurses wanted us out of there and I couldnt blame them one bit.
Finally as I wiped away his bloody tears I whispered to him " If you'll drink this apple juice they will take this out of your arm and we can go home." Connor opened his eyes a little and pointed toward the cup. I held the cup while he guzzled it. ( Tell me again how he doesnt understand.)
The nurse came in and took the IV out and we signed all discharge papers and left while he continued to cry his eyes out. He sobbbed most of the way home until he finally fell asleep. Once home we laid him on the couch with a blanket and pillow and he slept, woke up and cried, slept then woke up screaming and this went on all evening. We tried to get him to eat and he refused. We had to hold him down to give him tylenol. He was so pitiful and he broke our hearts. He never ate and he never opened his eyes. We held him and rocked him but nothing comforted him.
I put him to bed around 9pm. He slept until 8am this morning. I went in to get him up and he reach for me but his eyes were still shut. I took him to the kitchen and asked if he would like to eat, he said " nah". I told him he'd feel better if he did. He ate with his eyes shut and finally he opened his eyes and even though I knew they would be bloody red, I held him tight while I sobbed and he cried right along with me, and I told him that this was gonna help him see better or mommy would have never let them do it. I told him that everything was gonna be ok. I then gave him a bath and his spirits changed.
My happy boy was back. He danced and played. We went back to the Doctor so he could look at his eyes.
He said they look exactly how they should and he saw no signs of infection.
We go back on Tuesday so he can check them again. The sutures in them will dissolve on there own. They will stay red for up to two weeks. Until his eyes heal they may still turn in some, but as of now he believes the surgery was a success. We are so thankful and grateful for East Tennessee Childrens Hospital and Dr. Gitschlag!!!!
Well would ya look at that.....Straight eyes and a smile!!
Strabismus surgery is surgery on the extraocular muscles to correct strabismus, the misalignment of the eyes. With approximately 1.2 million procedures each year, extraocular muscle surgery is the third most common eye surgery in the United States.
Connors eye muscles are weak causing his eyes to go inward when he looks at things. Normally just one, but both are weak they just happen to not usually go inward at the same time. I know what you might be thinking, you've never noticed right?? We have grown so use to it that we dont really notice too, however after seeing the eye doctor I went back and looked at photos and yep there it is almost every time. Below are a few examples, though most times it was very subtle it was always there.
On the morning of surgery Connor was his happy self. Once at the hospital he knew something was up. Bless his heart hes been to Childrens Hospital enough to know if you have to go in a room with a actual hospital bed, its not good. He mostly laid around but he would literally fidget with his hands the entire two hours we waited for his turn for surgery.
Then we headed to the waiting room to wait. It took about an hour, the doctor then met with us and explained that everything had went well and as soon as he was awake they would call us back.
Within 10 minutes they called us back. We went in a empty room and waited for him. All of a sudden we heard ear piercing screaming sobs and we both looked at each other cause we knew it was him.They rolled him in the room as he threw himself all over the bed while he screamed and cried ( his eyes were shut but he was very much awake.) They told me I could get him and I scooped him up and rocked and talked to him, but nothing helped. He would scream and sling his head back toward the floor. His tears were pure blood and they poured down his checks and I had to inwardly beg myself not to breakdown . I gave him to Daddy who tried to comfort him too, but nothing helped. Finally we played childrens songs on you tube and he stopped crying. The nurse brought us apple juice and said as soon as he drank they would take the IV out and we could go. I asked him if he would take a drink he screamed " nah". We tried to make him take a drink and he screamed and fought us. The room we were in was only separated from the other rooms by curtains and all the other kids were waiting to be took back for surgery and I could tell that the nurses wanted us out of there and I couldnt blame them one bit.
Finally as I wiped away his bloody tears I whispered to him " If you'll drink this apple juice they will take this out of your arm and we can go home." Connor opened his eyes a little and pointed toward the cup. I held the cup while he guzzled it. ( Tell me again how he doesnt understand.)
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| Rag we wiped his tears with. |
The nurse came in and took the IV out and we signed all discharge papers and left while he continued to cry his eyes out. He sobbbed most of the way home until he finally fell asleep. Once home we laid him on the couch with a blanket and pillow and he slept, woke up and cried, slept then woke up screaming and this went on all evening. We tried to get him to eat and he refused. We had to hold him down to give him tylenol. He was so pitiful and he broke our hearts. He never ate and he never opened his eyes. We held him and rocked him but nothing comforted him.
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