Cornea #6

We're back home from a place we've been too many times before.  23 times we've had Hazel under anesthesia at this surgery center --  18 total eye surgeries and now cornea transplant #6.  Just typing it all out makes me tired and that's just for things we've done at this facility...not including her head surgery, ER visit, ear surgery, tooth extraction and annual MRI visits.

All before she has turned 5.

We haven't been to the surgery center since the first of the year and we weren't all that excited to be back.  We arrived in the morning and it felt oddly good and bad to be greeted by a staff that has known Hazel since she was still in an infant seat.  For the first time, Hazel picked out her outfit instead of wearing her PJs and was more interested in observing everything (Nervously and cautiously) than her toys or shows.  When the time came to change into her surgery gown, put on her medical bracelets and do the pre-surgery eye drops she fought a little bit but did the best that she could.  

Unhappy camper

Mommy and Hazel waiting to start surgery

The cornea transplant itself was not complicated in the grand scheme of things and went really well...it might just be that we are accustom to the work that comes with the best cornea surgeon in North Texas :)  After the surgery, we were told that the likely cause behind the build-up in her eye is an infection that took hold in the week before the surgery.  Not much that could have been done to stop it, just bad luck apparently...which made sense but also doesn't help us sleep any better at night.  It's just hard to understand why this happened to her when this eye has already been through so much.

Unfortunately, waking up from surgery was a major struggle and getting a determined 40-pound Hazel to calm down is harder than you'd think.  When she wakes up she doesn't like all the wires and monitors and always complains about them...but this time she was hell bent on getting the IV out of her ankle at all costs.  It was like her and I were sparring in a heavy weight title match for what seemed like forever.  To complicate matters, you can't safely take an IV out while her leg is thrashing around...so we had to hold her still for a solid 60 seconds until it could be taken out and bandaged up.

Not an ideal, smooth way to wake her up...but everything looked good today in post-op.

Sisters together at day-after check 

We're happy to be home but hearing Hazel know the word "Surgery" and asking not to have surgery was hard for our hearts to take.  At least now we can tell her when we are NOT going to have surgery, but unfortunately the stitches in her eye will need to come out and we will have to go through this all over again -- and she knows what it involves.

Thanks to everyone who is praying for our little warrior, she's as tough as they come.  

Back in the Saddle

Hi everyone.  Feels like a long time since I've gotten on here to write...mainly because it's been half a year.  As recently as last week I thought that I needed to write some updates on Hazel and our growing family just so everyone can keep up -- but unfortunately, more health issues are the driving force behind this update.  I'm going to start with medical and end with a family update...time sensitive things get priority.

Team effort at a recent eye exam

As a reminder, Hazel lost a battle in January when the retina in her right eye detached and we were not able to reattach it long-term.  The right eye has always struggled and fought our efforts to fix and strengthen it...so ultimately, making that eye healthy just wasn't in the cards.  Hazel has relied on her left eye for most of her life, but losing vision in the right eye just made it official. 

Wednesday afternoon we noticed that Hazel's right eye started losing pressure, was leaking lots of clear fluid and looked washed out.  We were able to get her looked at early this morning (Thursday) and a build-up behind her cornea caused a protrusion...which was the culprit.  Even though this eye is not functional, we can't have an exposed hole like this...so Friday morning we will be back at the surgery center to do a cornea transplant.  This will be her 6th cornea transplant...with 5 of those happening in this eye.

Probably goes without saying that this was a swift punch to the gut.  We already lost vision in the eye and now it's still haunting us from beyond the grave...it's just demoralizing.  Hazel is almost 5 and she understands where we are going before we even leave the house with context clues.  Today was just an exam and her nerves overtook her for the better part of an hour because she thought it was a surgery.  I have no idea what to expect tomorrow when it's the real deal and not a dress rehearsal.

Need prayers for calm nerves, focus from the medical teams (Doctors, nurses, anesthesia) and that she wakes up from the surgery smoothly.  

Before Wednesday, everything in our house was running smoothly...or as well as can be expected with 3 kids under 5 years old.  Hazel and Sawyer both love being big sisters for their new brother (Barrett), who is now 3 months old.  Updated picture of the little crazies is below for everyone.  

Hazel and Barrett

Sawyer First Day of School