This little guy could be the next superman! He always amazes me with his happy demeanor, kind nature and fighter spirit. We were supposed to go into surgery at 9:15 AM, however, we did not enter our room into well after 10:30 AM. He was exhausted, agitated and hungry, but he just kept rolling over, watching cartoons and smiling at everyone until he fell asleep for a bit. It may have been because I don't allow him to watch any T.V. at home, but I'll take it!
Miles had eye surgery to correct a strabismus in one or both eyes. The misalignment in his eyes has caused him to see double, he has developed Ocular Torticollis. We would have liked to have the surgery earlier to avoid this situation, however, it really wasn't an option until recently due to COVID19. We felt comfortable with this decision because we were at a top hospital (St. Pete All Children's John Hopkins Hospital) with an amazing doctor (Dr. Lopez at Hess Pediatric Ophthalmology). I also had one of my dearest friends (Miles' Godmother) with me to help me along the way, as my husband had to work. She really was my rock that day and I thank God for putting people like her in our lives to tackle these obstacles.
After our wait, they took Miles back to the room and we waiting together in the cafe. We both realized it was after noon and we hadn't eaten a single thing. So we grabbed some pretzel bites and salad, as we were waiting I received a page from the doctor. Immediately, I feared that it was too quick and they ran into another obstacle while opening up the eyes and needed my approval, so I literally ran out of the cafe with the pretzel bites in hand, luckily Christine paid for them. I got to the room and Dr. Lopez had pretty good news. They went in to cut the eye muscle, but when he tugged on the left eye something popped and the left eye had much better movement/rotation (they don't expect perfection). They wouldn't do any surgical cuts now, but allow for that eye to reacclimatize and check back in a couple weeks to assess whether or not we needed more surgery.
This was exhilarating!! They took me directly back to Miles who at the time was screaming and rolling around in hunger and pain. After a quick bottle, Miles seemed content and we left planning our celebration. Miles fell asleep in the back and after a few checks seemed pretty good, just tired. As we arrived home and pulled him out of the carseat I immediately noticed that he has become puffy and swollen everywhere. I knew it was an allergic reaction, however, he had already endured anesthesia and so I knew it probably wasn't the cause, I assumed it was the Tylenol. We went to the emergency room and were taken directly back, people were asking about his head markings. Did he get ahold of a marker? I thought to myself, that would be awesome if he walked and got a marker. Does he have a sibling that drew on him? I was thinking...really? My child's hospital band is so tight that I can't remove it!?!? After taking his vitals and administering a steroid and Benadryl he quickly returned to normal color and size. Our doctor was extremely kind and found Miles to be quite the charmer-he must know that his mother feels the same way!:)
So, no tylenol for the little guy, but his progress with vision and both fine/gross motor has been tremendous. He is able to grasp puffs, hold is head at midline and he began missionary crawling this week. We will return to the eye doctor next week to see if he needs more surgery or not. Either way, he won't have any Tylenol in the after care this time.
I will keep you updated on his journey. We have his first birthday coming up on September 4th and my dream is for him to 4-point crawl and stand, maybe say mama and dada. I feel so optimistic about these goals. We have started PT and OT three times a week now, before you know it this guy is going to be on the move and I couldn't be happier to chase him around and allow him to get into things he shouldn't! haha! Stay tuned for videos and pics!!!
Til' next time, Mighty Miles will be conquering his goals, one mini-milestone at a time.
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