Mason's 1st Eye Surgery

4 days after his accident when the swelling went down enough for him to open his eye we scheduled an appointment with the Retinal specialist. At this appointment it was determined that surgery was needed ASAP. Dr. Kwong found what looked like it MIGHT be Retinal tear. The sooner you operate the better. On Tuesday April 8th we went into surgery not knowing much of the outcome and praying extremely hard. Mason wasn't nervous at all. I think he was even a little excited about this new adventure.

BEFORE:

The nice administrator explaining everything to Mason:

Our good friends the Sare's gave Mason these cool headphones which he LOVES and wants to wear all the time. Up until this point I had worried that at any point Mason might start acting his age and get a little anxious, nervous or scared. I should have known better. This kid is invincible. As they wheeled him off he turned and waved to me as confident as ever. I won't ever forget that mental image.

Dr. Kwong informed us this particular surgery could last anywhere from 30 mins. to 3 hours. The longer it went on the more anxious I became. I ignored the feeling that everything was going to be ok and worried that because it was taking a while that wasn't good. Joyce and Larry came to visit and distract us at the hospital. Which was a nice change from starring painfully at the large hospital screen with random surgical updates hoping to see Mason's assigned surgery number say "Out of surgery".When we finally got the call saying surgery was over it had been about 2 hours. I was bracing myself for the worst. If he did in fact have retinal detachment we were going to have to restrict his movements, head positioning is crucial after this type of repair surgery. I was brainstorming taping him to a massage table face down with his face in the hole so he could see an iPad on the ground or something. :) Head positioning is critical after that type of surgery (we are talking hours at a time keeping his head horizontal! BLAH!!!)

As we sat down to talk to Dr. Kwong I held my breath as he proceeded to tell us how well the surgery actually went. Dr. Kwong was pleasantly surprised that Mason did NOT in fact have a retinal tear. I remember saying a silent prayer of gratitude as my heart filled with joy. I was so relieved. During surgery they removed his lens (due to having a traumatic cataract), cleaned up blood that had accumulated in the back of his eye and used a laser to repair some of the damage.

Post surgery:

Mason handled surgery like a champ! He was a little upset first coming out of anesthesia so they gave him some more meds in his IV and of course a popsickle makes everything better!

 

When we got home Mason was put on more eye drops and needed to wear this eye patch for the first 24 hours. After his first Dr. appt the next day he only needed to wear it at night for about 1-2 weeks. He NEVER once asked for pain meds or complained of discomfort. The only complaints from Mason were about not being to do very much. Poor little guy we are trying to bottle up the ocean over here!