Lucky No. 7 Post Op Report

In recovery room #7...a fitting number for today.

Hey everybody.  The tiny G-Wiede family is back at home today following eye surgery number seven to remove the cataract in Hazel's right eye.  We weren't very good about notifying everyone that this surgery was happening today so I wanted to be sure that I write a post-op blog as soon as possible.

The doctor performing the surgery today is our cornea surgeon, Dr. Bowman.  He did both of Hazel's cornea transplants in November-December 2013 and the other four eye surgeries have been glaucoma and eye-pressure related.  We checked Hazel in at the surgery center on the top floor of the Texas Eye Institute at 6:30 am and kissed her on the head to say goodbye an hour later when they took her back for surgery.

As he always does, Dr Bowman just came out  to the waiting room with an update and let us know that they successfully removed her lens and that Hazel is doing fine. They removed the cataract in her right eye but the tube in her eye (which is there to relieve pressure) was pressing up against her cornea because it was out of place. One of the advantages of being at the surgery center instead of a children's hospital is that Dr Bowman was about to enlist the help of a surgeon from the from Glaucoma Associates. Hazel's regular glaucoma specialist (Dr Smith) was in Fort Worth doing different surgeries but one of her associates was able to step into the OR and correct the tube.

Through all of these surgeries it can be hard to see the good through the bad...but today we were presented with one of those scenarios.  We didn't want Hazel to have surgery again, we wanted her to keep her lens and not go through the painful surgery process.  But if we didn't have her examination under anesthesia, we wouldn't of known the tube was out of place and the cornea could have been ruined.   Cornea failure is just about the worst thing that could happen for Hazel's vision outside of permanent blindness right now.

Anyways, since the lens was removed from Hazel's eye they were able to secure the tube better within her eye and it should not be an issue going forward.  Dr Bowman said he corneas still look great and that her eye pressures today were 22 in the right and 15 in the left, which is a good thing. So at least that aspect of her eyes along with her corneas got a good report. With her lenses removed, Hazel will need to rely on her glasses for vision so we will need to have them on much more frequently and consistently.  

The bad news is that she also has a cataract in her left eye :(  Hazel can't catch a break right now.  So we are going to have at least two more days like this:

1.  Remove left cataract and remove right eye stitches

2.  Remove left eye stitches and probably an EUA.

Thanks to everyone who is actively keeping up with Hazel's progress and praying for her health.  This was her 7th eye surgery, her 13th time under anesthesia and she will need to go under several more times within the next 6 months.  It's a lot for a tiny human to handle.

A Last Minute Update

Sorry everyone, I know how much y'all love Grant's posts, but this one is coming from Hazel's Mama. We have had quite a bit on our plate recently- who doesn't!- so we apologize for not being more on top of communicating what is going on with Hazel. 

First off, tomorrow morning (Monday Sept 29) Hazel will be having her 7th eye surgery (13th time having general anesthesia) to remove the lens in her right eye, which has developed a cataract. They will not be putting in an artificial lens until she is older. Since she will have no lens, she will be completely dependent on her glasses to see out of her right eye. Thankfully, baby glasses are super super cute! 

At this time we would love for people to be in prayer:

• That her eye pressure would remain steady and low
• That her eye would not react negatively to not having a lens
• That the procedure would not affect her cornea
• That she would get at least a 1 year break from eye surgeries

Secondly, last Thursday Hazel had a procedure to unblock the tube in her right ear and had a hearing test while she was under anesthesia. We were hopeful that the shunt surgery would remove pressure from the nerve responsible for hearing, and that her hearing would improve but the hearing test revealed that though her hearing has not improved, it had not gotten worse. This is great news considering how quickly she lost hearing from November to June. We don't know how progressive her hearing loss could be, but right now, she hears some tones well and some tones not well. Unfortunately, the ones she doesn't hear well are the tones that most closely reflect speaking. Her hearing is fully corrected when she wears her hearing aids (which are also super super cute), but both glasses and hearing aids at the same time is virtually impossible to enforce. 

Hazel is doing great recovering from her VP Shunt surgery in late August. Her head looks so much better, and the thing we have noticed the most so far is that the very prominent vein in her forehead has almost disappeared. Hopefully, this surgery will give her brain a better chance to develop normally as she grows.

We are so immensely grateful for you taking the time to keep up with Hazel and cover her with prayer. It has been almost a year since she entered our lives, and from day one we have been overwhelmed by the prayers being lifted up to our Savior on behalf of our baby girl. He is our strength and our hope and He has wonderful plans for Hazel and her life.