- 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.
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| Daddy and Daughter in the waiting room |
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| 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.
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| 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...
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