Slippery Slope

The last 3 months have been a roller coaster ride for our family.  Leading up to Thanksgiving of last year, things were pretty quiet on the surface until an exam under anesthesia severely altered our path and put the health of Hazel's right eye on a slippery slope.  I don't expect anyone to remember the timeline, but I think this is all very important to understand how we got to where we are today:

• Mid-November: Exam under anesthesia shows scar tissue and fluid near retina in back of the right eye.

• Late-November: Surgery to remove scar tissue and fluid.  The retina is partially detached for the first time.

•  Early-January: Office visit confirms what we feared, that the retina is fully detached.

• Mid-January: Three-hour surgery is able to attach the retina and glaucoma tubes are not needed (Moved away from her eye center).

• Late January: Hazel passes basic visual tests for seeing light in her right eye, trauma has impacted her eye sight.

• Late-February (Last week): Eye surgery 18 to remove glaucoma tube that drifted out of place again.

Well that brings us to today, everyone following so far?  

Overall, the surgery from last week went really well and was significantly shorter than Hazel's last few times to the Surgery Center.  Dr Smith (Glaucoma) was able to go in and remove the tube as planned but also decided to remove the plate that is attached to Hazel's eye...it was also out of place and did not have an immediate purpose.  Not all bad news, but it meant the surgery was more intensive and adds a little more discomfort for Hazel.  After a short stint in the waiting room, Aubree and I were called back to the recovery area where Hazel was wrapped in warm blankets and still not ready to wake up.  

Daddy and Daughter in the waiting room

Sleeping it off in Post-Op

At this point, we still had not had a chance to connect with our Retina Surgeon, Dr Spencer, but we were pretty sure he was able to fit Hazel in today for an exam of her retina in the OR.  He eventually found us in our recovery room and had some bad news to share...the retina he very carefully and painstakingly attached in January was fully detached again.  

The news was hard for him to deliver and our eyes welled up with tears almost instantly.  The good mood from a quick and effective surgery vanished.  We know what this means.  We won some battles with the right eye but it is likely that we just lost the war.

There is no immediate action we are planning to take with Hazel's right eye, but you can't just go in an try and attach the retina over and over and over...you just can't.  Having one full detachment crippled her vision and likely turned it from functional to a last resort if something happens to her left eye.  Two full detachments in the same two month period is catastrophic.  Dr Spencer said he wanted to take some time and think over what steps to take next, but the reality of our situation is now that Hazel is likely down to only having vision in her left eye.  In the immediate future, Hazel's quality of life has not changed and she almost exclusively uses her left eye...so minimal adjusting for her day to day.

Snacks and a show -- waiting to be discharged

There are lots of other positives about her vision and I could list them off here....but in all honesty...I just don't want to right now.  But...I will share is that March 2nd will mark THREE YEARS since we have needed to do surgery on the left eye and we need that streak to continue.  Please pray for Hazel to continue this streak and that her left eye is healthy long term.  

I'm 100% sure that this news is going to discourage people who have followed Hazel, but we are dealing with this news better than you probably think.  After 4+ years of hard decisions and intense conversations we are better equipped than ever to handle this type of news.  We lean hard on each other and even harder on God.  

Until next time...

New Adventures and Beaten Paths

I've had a blog in mind for a few weeks now with the intention of writing about our family without it being a medical situation...but unfortunately those world's have collided once again.  Let's see...I'll start with the medical and go from there...

Last month, Hazel had a very important and lengthy surgery on her right eye and part of that procedure involved relocating tubes in her right eye that previously helped control her glaucoma and eye pressure.  At an appointment on Monday, Dr Smith was able to see that one of the tubes had shifted slightly and is out of position -- which needs to be corrected with a surgery.  So tomorrow morning (Thursday) we will be back for Hazel's 18th eye surgery.  This will not be terribly invasive since the plan is to cut back the tube and only leave the plate that is on her eye to use in case of future emergency.  We have had great experiences with the anesthesia group at the surgery center but any procedure has risks and Hazel is old enough that she gets nervous in the pre-op area.  In some ways seeing her mind race and struggle with anxiety is the hardest thing to deal with as her parent.  Prayers for all this would be great if you have 5 spare minutes.

Apart from the surgery, we have some new adventures happening in our family.  Namely, that if you haven't  heard or haven't seen Aubree lately...our girls have a baby brother on the way!  Baby boy is due at the end of May, so we still have some time but not a lot of time.  A week or so ago we moved Hazel and Sawyer into the same room and we are talking more about little brother but it is still very possible that they won't like someone else getting all the attention.  Especially Soy (Sawyer) who will only be 20 months older than her bro.  Life is going to get even more crazy than it already is but we are really excited to meet our little guy.

Aubree has also started as a market partner for Monat, a company focused on all-natural hair care.  She started using the products when this pregnancy started to damage her hair and she really loves the product.  I'm not bringing this up to sell anyone...but instead to share an impact it has had on her spiritually.  Aubree is excited to share the product, flash sales, before/after pictures and stories from consumers...in a lot of ways it has helped her discover a new boldness for sharing.  Selling Monat has given her more confidence to share how God is working in her life personally.  It's not all Hazel experiences all the time, some times it is something as simple as talking in our Grow Group discussions or checking in with friends to see how THEIR week is going. 

I'm doing my best to summarize her feelings but I'll also steal one section from her Facebook post...

"He made us all, perfectly imperfect.  I want to speak to our 'imperfections'.  Those are from God y'all.  It may be weakness of will, a physical ailment, a particular sin we struggle with.  God allows these in our lives, not because he is vengeful or because he is picking on us.  He wants to draw out attention to Himself, to show we need Him."

As per usual, our family has a lot going on but it never ceases to amaze me how you can see God work in your life...in all aspects of life...if you are prayerfully considering how his glory can be seen in it.

More updates to come on the procedure tomorrow...