Cornea Transplant #1

1/31/08:
Emily had her first eye surgery and she did wonderful! We got to the hospital at 9:00. She was scheduled to go in at 10, but they didn't bring us back into the surgical center until 10:30. After giving her a few antibiotic eye drops, and putting a very fashionable blue hospital gown on, we were able to walk her down to the operating room. I was allowed to go into the room with her and stay while they started the anesthesia. I stood/sat just outside the operating room holding Emily for almost an hour before the doctor was ready to bring her in. Why the hell did you bring us back there then? Jason was outside probably starting to freak out and wonder what was going on, why was it taking me so long to come back to the waiting room. The entire time I was there, I was in tears. It would come and go. I started talking to her to ease my nerves, telling her how much we loved her and that when she woke up we would be there to comfort her. the nurses were great, one kept coming over and giving me tissues. She even sat and talked with me about her condition for a little while, I think she really wanted to know about her and that was comforting. But I was scared to death. They finally were ready and I brought her into the OR. Machines, monitors, lamps and probably 6-8 people filled the room. I knew she was in good hands, but a 3 month old baby shouldn't be in there to begin with. This is not how she was supposed to start her life.... but that's where we were and there was no other option for her. I laid her down and the nurse put the mask over her to allow her to breathe in the anesthesia. She was asleep in seconds. I tearfully kissed her goodbye and whispered I love you in her ear...then sobbed as I walked out of the OR doors, leaving her alone in such a scary place. I didn't know what to do with myself... I didn't want to leave her side. Jason and I hugged as soon as I walked out and took off my bunny suit (big white jumpsuit I had to wear) and we both cried holding each other in the middle of the hospital hallway. I didn't care who was around me, my emotions were so high and I felt helpless. The surgery started at about 11:30 and took just over 2 hours. The only thing that got us through those 2 hours was food and mindless stuff on the waiting room TV.

After it was over, her doctor said the surgery went very well and she did great. His exact words were "bring her back in the morning and we'll take the eye patch off, and then she can start to see". Those words hit us really hard...she was finally going to be able to start learning how to see, and her entire world was about to change. Wow, what an emotional moment that was for us. After 3 months of waiting, worrying and wondering, our little girl was about to begin seeing the world. There really are no words that can describe how wonderful that made me feel. A few minutes later we were allowed to go back into the recovery room to be with her. She had a patch over her eye, but it didn't seem to bother her at all. Because of her age, she needed to stay in the recovery area for 6 hours for observation, so we were there for what seemed like forever. She was such a good baby, only crying when she needed to be changed or was hungry. Even the nurses couldn't believe how quiet she was and said they'd never had a baby seem so content after surgery before. We finally left the hospital just after 7pm and got home at about 8:30. We went to bed almost right away since we had to get up first thing in the morning to go back to the hospital. We couldn't wait to see what her new eye was going to look like, and were so excited for her to really be able to "see" for the first time.

We returned to the hospital at about 8:00 the next morning and after a short wait in the waiting room, we were finally allowed to take the patch off. Yes, mommy cried...again. I was so emotional, just waiting to see what hew new eye looked like. How would her brain react to having the patch taken off? What would she be able to see? Would she know she was looking at Mommy and Daddy? It was amazing, and honestly trying to put into words how I felt at that moment is nearly impossible. Her doctor was very happy with how little swelling she had and was impressed that she was opening her eye so much since typically babies don't open their eyes very much on the first day. He gave us a few prescriptions for some antibiotic and steroid eye drops and ointment. She will have to get 1 drop of each one in her eye 4 times a day. As the healing process continues, the frequency of drops will increase. She will need to be seen twice a week for the first month so that the condition of the eye can be monitored and in about 5-6 weeks she will have the stitches taken out.

The swelling had continued to go down as the day went on and she had been keeping her eyes open alot more. She was doing great and we were excited for her!

One thing we noticed alot more since the surgery was that her eyes sometimes aren't moving together or looking in the same direction. (lazy eye) That would hopefully get better as her eyes learn how to focus on objects and her eye muscles get stronger. During the week following her surgery she was scheduled for an evaluation from the early intervention team. They would evaluate her and if she qualified, they will set up a program for her that is tailored to her visual and developmental needs. The road we have in front of us appears to be a long one, but we're just putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to look to far ahead. Hopefully we won't hit many bumps and at the end our little Emily will have 2 healthy eyes and the best eyesight possible.