Wednesdays with Will and Katie: Will's Eye Surgery

We woke up at 5:15am yesterday to take Will in for his eye surgery. We told him we were going to take him to get his eye fixed, and he was eager to go.

Here is Will giving Chad a pre-op high five.

It could not have gone smoother. The nurses and staff were awesome. Will seemed to enjoy every aspect of the experience except waking up from the procedure to find and IV in his foot. That was really the only thing that bothered him. They gave him all kind of medicine, including something to wipe his memory of the whole thing. It worked - when we were getting ready to leave he asked when he would see Dr Stager.

Our pre-op nurse Shirely was just awesome. She really had a great time with Will. She let him take her vitals and was great at giving us information. She gave Will the "silly juice" which hit him about 10 minutes later. He went from being completely himself to having long blinks and being pretty out of it. At one point, he way lying in bed, he looked at the ceiling and said "are we at home?" They tell you that it will hit them all of a sudden, but it is really amazing to see it happen.

They wheeled him back in a bed, and he had no issues at all. We sent him back with one of his blankies, and he was perfectly happy. 45 minutes later, they came to tell me and Chad that everything went well. He had done great and we would get to see him shortly. When we did see him, he was upset about the IV in his foot and just a little unhappy coming out of the anesthesia. He didn't open his eyes at all. I held him in my arms, and he fell asleep quickly - he even snored. He woke up once and said "I don't want coffee" and then went back to sleep for a while. After a while, he woke up, opened his eyes and we took him home to see Ahma and Bapa. Once home, you really would not know he had surgery aside from seeing the redness of the whites of his eyes, the dilation of his eyes, and seeing his eyes cross for the first time ever.

Today, the day after surgery, his eyes are still red and crossing. He sees double - I was handing him juice and he said "oh, two juices!" - which can lead to some disappointments! Per his doctor, they will cross for a little bit while the muscle heals - as it will tighten and pull in the process bringing his eyes back to the center. For me, this is hard to see - he didn't have a noticeable eye problem before the surgery, so it is hard for me to see him with the crossing now. I look forward to the healing process and hope this does the trick for him for good!

Fake sleeping in the waiting room at the surgery center