Elli's Surgery, Answered Prayer, and Perspective

We're very thankful to say that Elli's eye surgery went well today, with no complications. Check-in for surgery was at 8:45, and they called us back to the pre-op/recovery room at about 9:20. At 10:00, we gave her to the anaesthesiologist and went to wait in the waiting room. At about 11:15, the surgery was done, and by 11:40, we were able to go see her in the recovery room. By 12:30, we were on the road headed home.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we were concerned about how Elli would handle going without food from midnight until she had surgery, but I'm happy to report that she handled that better than we could have imagined in our wildest dreams! We tried a little apple juice in a bottle about 5:30 this morning when we weren't sure we could hold her off any longer without screaming, and she chewed a little on the bottle and swallowed the small amount (maybe 1/4 oz.) that came out, but then she decided that she wanted the real thing. We were afraid that would mean a long ugly few hours until surgery began, but we found that if she couldn't see me or hear me, and if Doug snuggled with her and paced the floor with her, she was fine. We believe that is a direct answer to prayer, as we know that many of you were praying specifically about that very thing!

Elli was pretty groggy and fussy when we first got to the recovery room (but not too groggy to eat rather heartily!), and she remained that way until we got in the car to head home. She fell asleep almost immediately when we got in the car, and she slept hard the whole way home. It's now about 3:45, and she is playing happily on the floor as if nothing ever happened. :-) We have been told to give her Tylenol as needed if she seems to be in pain (which we will do, since she's also cutting a tooth at the moment), and we have to put eye drops in her eyes 3 times a day for a week. Other than that, no post-op care is really required. Her eyes are extremely bloodshot - basically, they are bruised - but that will heal in the next couple of weeks.

I know that many of you prayed specifically for peace for us - that it would not be too difficult for us to give our little girl over to the doctors for surgery, and that the wait wouldn't be excruciating. Once again, God answered that prayer. It was not as hard to turn her over to the doctors as I had anticipated it would be. Then, in the waiting room with us, there was another couple who have gone through great health difficulties with their 2 1/2 year old daughter - she was hospitalized for over a year at one point, and now has been in the hospital for 18 days and counting. Listening to this couple certainly changed our perspective of Elli's surgery - yes, any surgery is a big deal, particularly when going under anaesthesia, but in reality, this is still minor compared to what many people go through.

We have a follow-up appointment on April 30 for them to evaluate the success level of her surgery. It apparently takes 8-12 weeks for the muscles to "settle" into their new pattern, so it won't be clear whether they're aligned correctly now until that time. I can say, though, that neither eye turns inward nearly as far now as they did before, so while it may not be perfect, there is certainly an improvement!

Thank you to all of you for your cards, email, phone calls, and, especially, for your prayers. We were comforted to know that so many of you were praying for us over the last 24 hours!