Not Out of The Woods...Yet...

So apparently my last post caused more than a few tears for all of Hazel's Prayer Warriors and you know, maybe that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Hazel's overall situation is just as serious today as it was yesterday but today is a day for celebrating and praising God for the work He is doing in her life.  No tears today, people!

WE ARE HOME!  Let's just call that praise numero uno.  Today has been a really long day and despite how many times I've heard the episode of Clifford the Big Red Dog that is on right now...it's like music to our ears.  The patient is sleeping away on the couch with her left eye occasionally opening the minimum amount to see the TV...with a new trendy outfit composed of a large white eye patch, puppy-themed surgical gown top with a woven grey jack over it, PJ pants and silver high top sneakers that she refuses to take off.  

Whatever man...you do you Hazel.

Glad to be home

Sleeping it off in post-op

Honestly I'm not really sure where to begin with recapping the details of today, especially because Hazel was under anesthetic for three hours and thirty six minutes.  The goal today was for Dr Spencer to reattach the detached retina and a few other minor things that contribute to that end goal.  At the beginning of the procedure, he noted that a tube in Hazel's eye (that was implanted long ago to control glaucoma pressure) was loose and a cause for concern.  Praise number two is that Dr Smith (Glaucoma) was in clinic this morning and was able to come into the operating room to consult.  We had not seen Dr Smith this morning until she came into the waiting room.  It's not uncommon to see Hazel's other doctors there as they meet their other patients...but as Dr Smith walked through the room we realized that she was walking towards us...to our surprise.  We talked through the situation and the options with her and settled on tucking the tube below the eye and cutting off flow to the other tube in the eye to counteract the reduced pressure that will happen due to the retina surgery.

For adults, it doesn't really matter that you lose a little bit of eye pressure when you have a retina surgery because it has minimal impact in the grand scheme of things.  In adults, your body bounces back.  But for someone like Hazel who has glaucoma and tubes to regulate pressure...you have to factor in how all these surgeries and fixes coexist in a space as small as her eye.  Thank God for people who are smart enough to not only explain this in english to us but who have the skill to make it happen.

After that early consultation it was all a waiting game.  Minutes turned into hours and we had a few check-ins from the medical staff but no real updates outside of estimates on the time remaining.  Three hours into it we were called in to meet Dr Spencer.  He walked into the consultation room looking more positive than pessimistic and quickly let out a large sigh followed by a smile.  Aubree and I laughed nervously, not knowing exactly what that meant.  

"I'll tell you, that was tough.  I almost gave up on it 2 or 3 times..the detachment was really, really bad.  But we got it fully reattached".  

I hope it's pretty dang obvious that this is praise number three.  I'm paraphrasing a bit of course, but this news...while positive...hit home on how thin the margin for error was today.  He did go on to say that the result of the surgery turned out better than he could have hoped, but unfortunately I think that means this was a tough case and the bar was really low.  I want to be clear here...we are not out of the woods.  This was the outcome we wanted for today but the health of this eye is still very fragile and will need daily monitoring to see how Hazel's body reacts.  It makes me want to wrap her up in bubble tape and keep her away from society...but she is 4 and has the energy to play for days.  We'll deal with how to channel that energy tomorrow...today is a good day for a fireplace, some tv, some comfort food and some rest.

Paul put our experience this week and today into words in 2 Corinthians 12...

12:7b. "Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Today feels like answered prayer.  Amen to that.