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!

Noah Noah Noah

Noah's latest phrase when he's mad and thinks I'm ignoring him "You're just annoying me!" LOL He confuses the words annoying and ignoring a lot. Very cute!
Cute Noah catch phrases:
"B-sketti" - Spaghetti
"Toose Paste" - Tooth Paste

This little man can be moody at times but in my opinion is perfect! He is obviously adorable but very gentle-natured. I've watched a few different babies on different occasions for friends and Noah LOVES having a baby around. He will tend to the baby constantly getting them toys or blankets and talking to them. It REALLY makes me proud.

"PLEEEEASE???"How can I say No to this face?!?

Noah's personality is very cautious but he's very wise. I've said this before, but I really do think Noah is very similar to Ron in personality. He thinks about and analyzes situations. He won't do something if he doesn't want to. (STUBBORN!) If it wasn't his idea it's NOT a good idea. He is my best eater, and will try just about anything.

I was having a rough day this week. Overwhelmed with Callie's cracked tooth, Mason's eye issues and insurance claims/issues running out the wazoo. I was crying thinking about Callie's tooth and just sad. Noah ran up to me and gave me a big hug and told me "I love you mom. Why are you crying?" I explained to him briefly how I was sad about Callie's tooth and he ran off and secretly disappeared to his room. A few minutes later he emerged with a paper colored on and a note written to me.
His Note reads: "Love Noah. Here is a message. I love you."

He is such a sweetheart and very perceptive to those around him.

Callie's tooth

Well, when it rains it pours!! We just can't seem to get a break around here in the Huber household. Callie fell at the playground Thursday night and bumped her tooth on the monkey bars. I took her to the Pediatric Dentist today for an x-ray and evaluation. Her tooth #E (center right tooth) is chipped and cracked. There is a vertical crack that runs up to or very close to the nerve of her tooth. She will more than likely need a pulpotomy (baby root canal) and crown on the tooth, IF it's even savable at all. If the crack is more severe than it appears on the x-ray she may need to have the tooth pulled all together.

My heart has been very heavy over the past few days thinking about the possibility of her not having a tooth there for the next 5 years. Ron and I were discussing our "woes" and feeling very down. Considering Maosn's eye, Callie's tooth... etc. Then we started to talk about the trials of close friends around us and in our ward. And how in comparison what we were experiencing was actually not as bad as we thought. We have each other, we have relatively healthy and happy children. Life really is good, it just throws you curve balls and punches once in a while.

Callie doesn't like ANY doctor office. So why would the dentist be any different? She did ok for the appointment, but didn't like it. After the treatment plan was determined the doctor gave us a Prescription for antibiotics and pain (to prevent an infection). He also recommended a soft food diet until we could get her back in to fix the tooth.

This little climber of mine is stressing me out big time. I went into nursery today to help because I'm paranoid she is going to bump that tooth again before we have a chance to fix it. 

This picture doesn't do justice to how bad the crack and chip is. The whole Lingual wall of her tooth is practically gone. She hasn't complained at all of pain so far (that's good. I'm really hoping her nerve isn't involved) We were still able to have a Girls night out with Maryann while the boys were at fathers and sons!

Shopping with Maryann "Mom, Can I ride the Alligator?"

Mason's "Bad Eye" Part 2

For a few weeks following the accident my life drastically changed. Mason had an eye appointment almost daily, He was put on 3 different eye drop medications that need to be administered 2-4 times a day. Do the math. He needed eye drops placed 6-8 times a day. This was no easy feat either. Because his left eye was swollen shut for a few days, this made the eye drops were a 2 person job. One person needed to pry his eye open, and the other quickly drop the medication in. Mason was extremely tolerant of this process and only whined occasionally. Per Doctors orders he was put on extreme movement restrictions. No running, jumping, bouncing... etc. At this point we weren't sure how much damage had actually been done. If he had a retinal tear or detachment jumping and bouncing could potentially make it worse. Those first 2 weeks were exhausting. I stressed over any movement at all from Mason! You try telling a 7 year old NOT to be 7. BLAH!

The very first morning (post accident) Mason refused to open even his good eye. I have learned a lot about eyes lately and apparently your eyes are "wired" to work together. If 1 of your eyes open the other closed eye will still contract it's pupil. So, for Mason this caused pain in his injured eye. He chose to just kept both eyes shut to avoid this pain. I tried everything I could to entice him to open his right eye, finally resorting to movie suggestions (even though he is injured I HATE the TV just being on. To me it's just NOISE and I don't like it.) He seemed excited at this prospect so he immediately chose a Scooby Doo. I remember thinking "oh cute. he still likes the little cartoon movies." WRONG! As I watched him "watch" the movie I noticed he STILL wasn't opening that eye but commenting and laughing at the movie. When I brought this to his attention he simply stated "I don't need to watch it. I have this movie memorized." LOL Funny kid.

Mason had lots of concerned visitors that first day. Including his primary teachers bringing him a card and a conference packet to enjoy watching conference the following Sunday. This is the FIRST time I noticed Mason get a little emotional after they left because he couldn't see the papers they brought him. He was so excited as I sat and explained what the papers said and how he could use the conference packet. He didn't cry, just got choked up a little and said "but I can't see them!" That's a really hard thing to watch your child experience "helplessness".

Later that evening quite a few family members came to check up on Mason including my Dad. We thought at this point Mason was asleep on the bean bag so we were quietly talking and Grandpa Faler said "He looks worse today then he did yesterday." to which Mason promptly responded "I can hear you!" LOL It was really funny.

Wednesday, (day 4) was the worst day for me. I think reality set in. He had been home from school all week and we were running a few errands. (This was the first day we didn't have any appointments) I remember where we were. Walking out of Wal Mart and Mason declared "Mom! I can open my eye!" I ran to him and was so excited the swelling had gone down enough that he could barely open his eye. I excitedly asked him "Can you see out of it?!?!" When he replied "No" my heart sank. The rest of the day is a blur. I don't know what I expected. I think I thought that miraculously he would see again and all would be as it was before. Lots of tears shed that day, guilty feelings crept back in. I wondered how different his life would be. "Would he be able to drive? Could he even play sports again?..." Ridiculous questions but valid concerns. Mason however was fine, completely unfazed by it. He was bouncing off walls and acting his usual upbeat self. Which only stressed me out MORE!!!

Mason has had several doctor appointments over the past few weeks. As always he is very well behaved for the Dr. and asks lots of questions. I REALLY like the Retinal specialist, Dr. Kwong. He is very informative and nice. He gave us his personal cell phone number at one point, I could tell he genuinely cared about Mason.

This particular appointment Dr. Kwong printed off the ultrasound pictures of Mason's eye and while explaining them to Ron and I, Mason speaks up from behind "Can I see?" Of course Dr. Kwong proceeded to show and explain to Mason what was going on in his eye.

I can't get over how high this kids pain tolerance is. Ron and I have more than once commented on how little Mason gets sick. The more we thought about it the more we realized he was probably sick more than we realized, he just never ACTED sick. This kid is go go go! For the most part the first couple days after the accident were fairly easy to keep Mason still. He was tired and I'm sure in pain, even though he NEVER asked for pain relief meds and would ALWAYS respond "Good" when you asked him how he was feeling. Almost everyone would ask "Does it hurt?" and Mason would ALWAYS reply with a smile "No." The only complaint he ever makes is his sensitivity to light. His eyes are extremely sensitive to light (mostly because of the dilating drops medicine) and especially first thing in the morning. We bought him some cool shades to help with this problem. He wears them EVERYWHERE! (Even to his choir concert at school and his Piano recital!)

The iris in his injured eye was torn during the accident. This is a drawing Dr.Underdaul (the Pediatric Eye Specialist) drew for us in the hospital. This can be fixed with surgery.

You can see his miss-shaped pupil and iris in this picture. 

Mason's Eye Incident

My heart stopped and I cringed yesterday when I looked at a tennis ball. Such an odd statement but so true. What started out as a fun Family outing planned with food, friends, quad riding, shooting and games; quickly turned into a nightmare. We invited our friends to the dessert on Saturday March 29th, as we were leaving I suggested taking the Potato cannon (aka tennis ball launcher) to play with and distract any children not taking a turn shooting or on the quad. We were up by Sycamore creek area and had only been out there for a about 20 mins before my life turned upside down. I don't mean to sound so dramatic but going through this has been one of the hardest things in my life so to me it is a big deal.

This picture on the blanket was taken just a few mins before the incident.

I had the boys situated on this blanket and was the only one firing the cannon. When the older boys expressed interest in learning how to fire I was hesitant but thought it would be fine because I was right there. Mason was having a blast loading the tennis balls in and watching them pop out! He kept putting his eye up to the barrel and I quickly lectured him on NEVER doing that. One of the parents was setting up a shade thing for us close to the blanket and he needed help opening the shade. I told the boys just load don't fire it and I turned my back for a few seconds to open the shade canopy. Next thing I hear Mason yell "Owwww!" That was it. No tears. No screaming. I looked and he had his hands over his left eye. I didn't know what had happened so I pulled his hands away and what I saw made my stomach jump up to my throat. I can't really describe it. Mason's face did not look like Mason. He had a small cut on his nose, and it was as if his whole eye socket and supporting bones were FLAT. I think his eye may have been bulging a little. I panicked and rushed him to the ice chest to get some ice on it. Ron was there and quickly evaluated Masons eye which was rapidly swelling. The swelling was so immediate his eye swelled shut with in 3-5 mins. Crazy! 

I felt like life was in slow motion. We decided to take him to get medical help. I frantically grabbed Callie put her in her car seat (she was crying about leaving), Noah quietly and obediently filed in the jeep. I felt like a crazy woman throwing camping chairs in the back of the jeep and running for the canon and blanket throwing it in the back as well. I'm sure everyone around me was in shock too but I just felt like they were starring as I panicked and as the guilt took over me. I was in tears getting into the jeep as we drove off. I remember Ron very reassuringly rubbed my arm to comfort me.

Watching Mason in the car was awful. His eye was almost swelled shut and he kept reaching up to pry his eye open, not really understanding what was going on. Still no tears just quietly trying to ice it and get comfortable. I smile when I think about mine and Ron's naive behavior. For the next 15-20 mins or so we discussed whether to go to an emergency room/ hospital or try urgent care. We have never been in this situation before and didn't really know the seriousness of the situation. Lesson learned. We also debated just one of us taking Mason and the other staying home with the other kids. Decision was made to take the whole family to the hospital.

We arrived at the Banner Gateway Hospital around 4pm. My sister Maryann happened to call while we were in the waiting area and helped spread the word to my family about our situation. I was still in such shock it didn't occur to me to call and let anyone know, let alone figure out what to do with Callie and Noah. We were just all hanging out. I think Heavenly Father prompted her to call me then. I was still feeling horribly guilty over this happening on my watch and I'm not sure I would have answered the phone if it had been anyone else calling. By the time they got us back and evaluated they determined that Cardon's children hospital could better treat him, this was around 8pm. Luckily they let us drive and we didn't have to go by way of ambulance


. At the Cardon's hospital they did another eye ultrasound (no one was able to physically open his eye at this point), a CT scan, and gave him an IV with some pain meds that allowed him to sleep, and phoned a Pediatric Eye Specialist. The eye specialist came in and used some sort of tool with a spring that retracted Mason's eyelids open. Going against the eye doctors advice I looked at Mason's horrible eye pried open. (I figured I see gross stuff at work all the time and I have the stomach for it). As I peered into what should look like an eye ball I remember thinking "Where's the white part of the eye?!?! What color is Mason's eye? I can't remember what color Mason's eye should look like right now! What color is Mason's eye?!?!?!" I don't know how to describe what I saw. His eye wasn't very round, it looked very wrinkled and the iris part was just a big black hole (filled with blood), his cornea didn't looked rounded over the iris either. In fact the cornea looked pretty flat. The eye specialist did this exam 2 different times at the hospital and both times Mason was very cooperative and calm. Mason did periodically ask Ron and I a few different times if the Doctors would be able fix his eye. And occasionally asked for food, no other complaints. Such an amazing kid!

   When we got home finally around midnight per Mason's request we picked dinner up at Wendy's. We sat him down to eat. All afternoon and into the evening Mason refused to open even his good eye. He needed lots of guiding and direction. Apparently your eyes are programmed together, so when one eye opens they both contract the pupil even if one eye is still shut. This in turn would cause pain for Mason, so he just quietly kept his eye shut. We positioned the bean bag so that Mason could sleep vertically to help the swelling go down. For 2 weeks that bean bag was Mason's bed. 

Sunday morning Mason woke up (still wouldn't open his right eye, the good one) after inquiring where his siblings were (at Grandma and Grandpa Faler's) he asked "Can I go sit on the swing outside?" Crazy kid. And I LOVE him for it!

Noah and Callie tried their best to comfort and be there for Mason. Noah didn't want to sleep with out Mason so he fashioned a bed on the floor next to Mason. Callie would often lend her ear even though typically she hates it when he does that. (Mason and his ear fetish! This kid loves ears! Always has!)

Callie is 3

I can't believe my baby is 3! Not really a baby anymore!

This picture (above) is Callie PERFECTLY! While she can be shy and a little introverted in public she is very adventurous like her brother Mason. She will try any and everything. "Wanna see something cool?" or "Watch this mom!"

She is also the QUEEN of independence. Her catch phrase is "I can do it MEESELF!" And usually whatever it is she can.

She has such an imagination, and LOVES all her dolls. She is talking to them constantly and takes good care of them. I'm not sure where she got it from. Her brothers certainly didn't teach her how to play with dolls.

Callie is very much interested in people and observes people (like her momma she is a people watcher). (She doesn't always show it, sometimes she is very introverted and shy. In public she isn't the most outgoing girl.) But she asks EVERY day if she can go say hi to Lorna (our 90 yr. old next door neighbor). Callie has also always been very observant of families as a whole. She knows all family member names in her friends homes. And randomly through out the day will list them off. For example Kenzie and Kate are neighbors that adore Callie, and Callie loves them too. We were sitting down to dinner one evening and Callie stated "Kenzie is eating her dinner, and Kate's eating her dinner. And Christi and Derek (Darin) are eating their dinner. And Maggie is eating her dog food." She even includes family pets.

These CURLS! I know they won't last long, I sure am going to miss them!

LOVES animals.

LOVES to SING! And is pretty good at it too! She picks up on lyrics to music very quickly.

LOVES music and to dance to it!

I even recently put her in a little mini dance class through the city of Gilbert. We have only gone once but she absolutely LOVES it! She is by far the littlest one in the class I'm excited to see how she does as the weeks go on. This video isn't very good but she is the little one on the far left in the black shirt and purple skirt.

Callie LOVES to go shopping! Whether it's at the grocery store, mall or ANY store! She loves it all! This is all very new to me. I've never had a child like this. Both Mason and Noah detest shopping. It's nice to have a little girl around who enjoys these kind of things.

Recently she has started changing her clothes CONSTANTLY!!! I'm not very excited about this. Her bedroom always has clothes on the floor (that most of the time were only worn for a few mins.) I'm seriously considering locks on her drawers. lol I'm told this is normal, but no one tells me when it will STOP!