Take It From The Top

I feel like I'm running out of ways to recap surgery days, but I think it just comes with the territory of writing enough of these things over the last 3+ years.  I suppose that this blog is as much for me as it is for you, I can barely keep up with everything that Hazel has gone through and the dozens of times we've sat and talked with our doctors about the current health of Hazel's eyes.  At the very least it's a good way to document things, like Hazel's fifth cornea transplant :)

Today was different in a couple of ways from what we're used to at the surgery center, mainly that we did not have to arrive until 6:30 a.m. -- a fact I wish I knew when I woke up about half an hour too early.  Typically Hazel is first on the surgery schedule, but with increasing demand and the short turnaround time for this surgery we were just happy to be on the list.  After about an hour in the waiting room we found ourselves in the pre-op area where Hazel now has her own routine of putting on her "bracelets" (medical bands) and using the "blue pem" (purple marker) to draw on them.  There  were very few tears this morning and Hazel was in surprisingly good spirits, I'm not sure if it's because we've gone there 4 times in under 3 months or if she just had a good morning of being brave....either way, it was kinda nice.  Dr Moore is our anesthesiologist who came from a background working in pediatrics and it's been really nice working with her for the past few months instead of getting a call from (fill in the blank) doctor from generic anesthesia group -- it just helps to build a rapport and fine tune the methods that work best for Hazel to go to sleep and wake up.  Plus, Dr Moore has toys and plays Paw Patrol on her phone -- our tiny patient approves of these methods.

The agenda today was to remove from blood and excess fluid that is present in the right eye, do some preventative work on the blood vessels to stop future blood issues and to put on her new cornea.  The procedure took about 90 minutes and Dr Bowman grabbed us from the waiting room with a spring in his step and a smile on his face.  "It couldn't have gone any better" was the exact phrase he used to start our recap discussion...the red reflex in her eye came back STRONG and that's really exciting for us since the clarity for light to reach the back of her eye is so critical.  Her eye pressures were both below 20 today (which is great, but below the norm for her), so we suspect the anesthetics and timing of taking the pressures might have skewed the numbers but we are still happy to hear the news.

Today was the part that we can't do without Hazel's team....tomorrow is the first day where persistence and practice are the name of the game for Aubree and I.  Hazel will have a few days and weeks to let her eye heal before we start doing any sort of patching or strengthening exercises but we're still just hopeful that this surgery is a longer term fix than the previous attempts and that she gets a window of opportunity to see what she can do with the right help.  We're hopeful and anxious and proud of our little girl, she was an all star today.

Until next time...

Back to the Drawing Board

If you've been keeping up with Hazel and/or the blog, you know it's been an active 2-3 months for our lil' bug.  She had cornea transplant #4 on November 30 (This is #3 on the right eye)...in December it was a mysterious fluid in her right eye that scared the junk out of us (turned out to be blood)... and an exam under anesthesia in January to get a closer look at the right eye.  Since that time we've been back again to the surgery center for another exam under anesthesia and unfortunately there is still more that Hazel needs in order to improve her vision.

We took Hazel to have an exam on February 1st when the blood in her eye was not dissipating like we hoped and thought it would do naturally.  This time around we had "The Big Three" of Hazel's eye doctors all in attendance to look at her corneas, glaucoma and to update her glasses prescription...I have to admit, it was really cool for us to get to see and talk to all three in one day.  These are busy, in-demand doctors and seeing them all on the same day made us know how much care and support Hazel has every time she goes back.  The end result of the EUA was that the cornea from November was starting to get cloudy and the blood/fluids that are impeding her vision are still lingering.  Cornea transplants on kids is really tricky and their hyper immune systems just don't like foreign substances...so the best guess right now is that the attempt to remove the blood and the complications from the surgery causes the cornea to be rejected.  

Tomorrow morning (2/13) we are taking our girl back to a place she's been too many times before to have a procedure on her right eye that she has had three times before.  We are really, really hoping this is the last time we have to do a cornea transplant and that her body doesn't throw us any curve balls.  The silver lining with corneas is that there is a high supply available and (in Hazel's case) there is not a limit on the number of times we can keep trying new corneas if it is really necessary.  There IS a finite window that we have to strengthen her right and every time we put in a new cornea and it only lasts for 3 months....6 months....a year....it just ends up being lost time.  

On top of everything else, Hazel currently has a sinus infection and an ear infection...just in case upcoming surgery isn't enough.  So prayers for her health and a calm demeanor would be really appreciated along with prayers for our surgeons, anesthesia team and the support staff.  

So I'm back here blogging for the 51st time, asking for everyone who has been running a marathon with Hazel to run a little further and pray a little more.  I'll get updates back out as soon as I can...