Prognosis

Well, it's been 11 days since Hazel underwent a 3-plus hour surgery to try and save her right eye -- I do mean TRY, because nothing about this situation is guaranteed.  Sorry for ripping the band aid off in sentence one here...but this update is as much for documenting her progress as it is to help everyone understand Hazel's prognosis and hopefully to address some common questions that we hear.

Last Friday (one week after the surgery), Aubree loaded up Hazel and Sawyer to tour the metroplex with post-op visits.  First was a hike out to Fort Worth to see our glaucoma surgeon, Dr Smith, who did a check of Hazel's eye pressures and a visual inspection of her progress.  The eye pressures were good and in a standard range (15-20).  Closing off the tubes in her right eye to counterbalance the anticipated drop in pressure from the retina surgery paid off...and her right eye pressure nearly doubled.  Check point one went off with out a hitch with another post-op visit to see Dr Spencer after lunch to talk more about her retina and overall outlook.

We don't have as much exposure to the retina and back-of-the-eye surgeries as we do with glaucoma and corneas...so some of the news that we get from her retina specialist is just new to us.  Everything is more complex in that small space and you can't tell much about the back of the eye without an advanced degree and what I can only assume is very expensive equipment.

The first test for Hazel is a simple one, the nurse covers her strong eye with a tissue...turns off the lights...and shines a flashlight to test what she can see.  Hazel is known to be a bit of a cheater in these games and would rather be right than honest...like kids do.  But we know she has a red-reflex in her right eye and she gets the question right a few different times when asked if the light is on or off.
Dr Spencer did note that there is some blood in front of the retina, but that's not unusual for this type of procedure.  The expectation is that it will resolve itself and go away naturally.

Aubree and I don't do well with fluff or talking around issues, especially in medical situations.  So when the exam portion was over and it was time to talk future Aubree was blunt in asking about Hazel's prognosis...here are some key points:

• The chances of the retina staying attached is 50/50.  There has been a lot of trauma in this eye and any number of things can cause harm.  This means avoiding things that can alter eye pressure...no trampolines where you can land on your head, no sports where you can take a ball to the head, no swimming and in our case, try and avoid your 15-month old sister who has learned to grab you in the face.

• The right eye has gone through a lot of trauma...and at this point there is no expectation that it will catch up with the strength of the left eye.  What she will likely have in this eye is called "Ambulatory vision"...if you're like me this term didn't mean much at first....but it means her level of vision in that eye would be blurred.  She will likely be able to see large objects, colors, light, etc...in my mind this will mainly be a peripheral vision for her in most day to day situations.

When we found out the retina was detached, we knew it was bad and we knew it would be hard to reattach but I never knew what to expect after that point.  It's hard to explain to people that Hazel is doing well after surgery, that the surgery went as well as it could, that she is having great post-op checks and that she can see light out of that eye....but that the bar has just been substantially lowered for her.  It's been tough to handle.

As much as I wish there was an FAQ section of Hazel's blog, the questions we ask and the answers we get about her prognosis can change daily.  There is no crystal ball to tell us what to expect, even with surgeries that are common.  I'll be honest, I'd love to stop blogging about her...I'd love to have nothing to report...but we won't know when that day is until it is far behind us.

I should be clear...you can always ask me about Hazel and I'll tell you all about her or answer any curiosity questions.  Her story impacts a lot of people and I want anyone who asks about her to know whatever they want to know.  But I also want people to understand this is a daily struggle, a daily responsibility that Aubree and I carry with us...we don't know where the finish line will be.

We're just taking it a day at a time.