Eye Surgery 10

I keep hoping that I won't have to post about upcoming surgeries, but unfortunately we just aren't there yet.  Our little Hazel is still squarely in the middle of the battle zone.  Every surgery that she's had for the last few months has not been planned out and this eye surgery is no exception.  But this war of attrition is just where we are right now and no one can say with any certainty when these battles will end.  

Next Monday, February 23rd we will go back to the surgery center for a procedure on her left eye.  The pupil in her left eye has started to migrate up (Or "north" as I keep saying) and her vision is being impeded by other parts of the eye.  The pupil is really important to the development of Hazel's eyes because it is where light enters the eye and helps it grow and develop.  At this point, the pupil is moving upwards and is being blocked by her iris...so the only solution in this case is an iridectomy to remove the iris.

I hate that this surgery has to happen but it does.  You don't think of the iris as something that the eye can afford to lose...and it has caught most people off guard when I've said what the surgery involves.  But when the choices are either: the left eye will stop receiving light OR you can remove the iris?  Not much of a decision to make.  

If I'm being honest, this surgery feels like Hazel is being forced to lose a part of her eye and not gaining better use of her pupil.  I still have trouble accepting why God allowed her pupil to move at all...she's been through enough already.  By this point we were hoping that Hazel would be in glasses with two prescriptions lenses and be working on improving her vision, not needing surgery to save it.  But Hazel has not had much (if any) vision from her left eye for several weeks.

Overall, Hazel is doing as well or better than many of her doctors thought she would do when she was born.  She gets a lot of help from physical therapist, two vision therapists and her team of doctors that monitor her vision issues, hearing loss and hydrocephalus.  Hazel is on the border of figuring out how to walk and still dislikes crawling (which is fine!), she actually enjoys wearing her glasses and is more accepting of her hearing aids every day.

If you have the time and are willing, we would appreciate your prayer this week.  Please pray that...

• The surgery goes as planned
• The examination would not find any more issues that will need more eye drops or surgery to correct
• This will be the last eye surgery for Hazel