Since birth, Elliott has had goopy eyes as the result of blocked tear ducts. At each checkup, his pediatricians told us that many kids outgrow this by the one year mark and that they would refer us to an opthamologist if he did not. His eyes would be good some days and bad others. They were an indicator of a coming cold, ear infection, or new tooth. But they were also a pain. Lots of wiping, cleaning, and hot compresses. Well, Elliott's first birthday came and went without any real change.
We saw the opthamologist a couple of weeks ago and they had an opening for the procedure five days later. Since we knew Jesse would be home and had no reason to delay it, we went to Children's Hospital at 6:30 last Tuesday morning for the quick surgery. We were most nervous about the pre-surgery fasting. Elliott dictates when he eats. The first thing he does when he wakes up in the morning is eat some mama milk. The night before we went in, he ate a huge dinner. And then drank a lot of milk. And then had more milk. And then got in his crib and promptly threw up most of it. Such is life.
Jesse set an alarm and got up to feed Elliott a bottle at 2:30 am, the last time we were allowed to feed him before the procedure start time. When the alarms went off at 5 am, I asked Jesse if he had fed him the bottle (guess I slept soundly that night!). We went to the hospital and Elliott was in great spirits. He was smiling and making friends. The area where we were was just for other little kids having the same procedure. Just a bunch of goopy eyed kids playing together. Children's is great. They are so focused on kids - toys everywhere, friendly staff who are great with the kids and good at calming parents too.
Elliott made another little friend in the hospital who was only one week younger. They had fun playing in the waiting room together and then continued to play in our shared room. Side note: when I was getting ready to move from labor and delivery to the maternity floor, the thought of a shared room was terrifying. When you're talking about a 14 month old waiting for a minor procedure, a shared room with a little friend is a treat! They played with each other most of the time.
Elliott was patient #2 of the morning, after his roommate. We went into the room while they put him under. The procedure itself is only a couple of minutes so it does not require IV anesthetic. But, any general anesthetic is scary so we were a bit nervous. The doctor went down the tear ducts at the inner corner of Elliott's eyes and down into his nasal passage with a flexible metal probe. He then brought another probe up through the nasal passage to meet it to make sure he cleared the blockage. The whole process took about 3 minutes. From there he went into recovery until he woke up about 10 minutes later. He was groggy at first but after 20 minutes, he wanted to get up and play. We held him close until he was walking steadily and then were discharged. Elliott spent the rest of the day at home and went back to school the following day like nothing had happened. Here are some pictures of our little trooper at the hospital.
The little pink hospital gown was really cute (but only cute because he's not actually sick).
Elliott with his little friend, waiting for their procedure.
We saw the opthamologist a couple of weeks ago and they had an opening for the procedure five days later. Since we knew Jesse would be home and had no reason to delay it, we went to Children's Hospital at 6:30 last Tuesday morning for the quick surgery. We were most nervous about the pre-surgery fasting. Elliott dictates when he eats. The first thing he does when he wakes up in the morning is eat some mama milk. The night before we went in, he ate a huge dinner. And then drank a lot of milk. And then had more milk. And then got in his crib and promptly threw up most of it. Such is life.
Jesse set an alarm and got up to feed Elliott a bottle at 2:30 am, the last time we were allowed to feed him before the procedure start time. When the alarms went off at 5 am, I asked Jesse if he had fed him the bottle (guess I slept soundly that night!). We went to the hospital and Elliott was in great spirits. He was smiling and making friends. The area where we were was just for other little kids having the same procedure. Just a bunch of goopy eyed kids playing together. Children's is great. They are so focused on kids - toys everywhere, friendly staff who are great with the kids and good at calming parents too.
Elliott made another little friend in the hospital who was only one week younger. They had fun playing in the waiting room together and then continued to play in our shared room. Side note: when I was getting ready to move from labor and delivery to the maternity floor, the thought of a shared room was terrifying. When you're talking about a 14 month old waiting for a minor procedure, a shared room with a little friend is a treat! They played with each other most of the time.
Elliott was patient #2 of the morning, after his roommate. We went into the room while they put him under. The procedure itself is only a couple of minutes so it does not require IV anesthetic. But, any general anesthetic is scary so we were a bit nervous. The doctor went down the tear ducts at the inner corner of Elliott's eyes and down into his nasal passage with a flexible metal probe. He then brought another probe up through the nasal passage to meet it to make sure he cleared the blockage. The whole process took about 3 minutes. From there he went into recovery until he woke up about 10 minutes later. He was groggy at first but after 20 minutes, he wanted to get up and play. We held him close until he was walking steadily and then were discharged. Elliott spent the rest of the day at home and went back to school the following day like nothing had happened. Here are some pictures of our little trooper at the hospital.
The little pink hospital gown was really cute (but only cute because he's not actually sick).
Elliott with his little friend, waiting for their procedure.
Elliott loved playing with the industrial cribs in the room.
We're so relieved that the procedure went off without a hitch!
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