12 of 12 - March - Sam's Eye Surgery With Bonus Pictures

I have 12 pictures for the 12th of March, which is the day Sam had his eye surgery, but I also have a few taken on the 13th and one on the 11th plus a few more than the 12 and I'm not going to write an entirely different blog post for those few pictures so I'm being flexible.  Besides, I don't do the 12 of 12 the right way so it shouldn't even matter.


My mom came to help during Sam's surgery so Jay and I could both go and be with Sam and we left right after school on Monday. Sam and I were looking forward to continuing on with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and it didn't take very long for Jay to get into it as well. We arrived in Grand Junction, where Sam was having surgery the next morning, at 7:30 pm and chose Outback for dinner because steak is Sam's absolute favorite food and because he had to fast in the morning, we wanted him to have a nice, big dinner. We succeeded and even topped it off with a gluten-free chocolate thunder from down under for dessert.



We didn't have to be at the surgery center until 10 am so we all tried to sleep in as much as possible. We got there in plenty of time.



Sam felt a mixture of apprehension and excitement for his surgery. He was very tired of wearing the prisms on his glasses but I could tell he was nervous too. He really handled it all like a champ.



They took all his vitals.  84 pounds and 4 ft 11 (and 3/4 - Sam is keen to include the almost inch) inches tall.



He is so modest he was embarrassed to change into his hospital gown in front of me.  I turned my head and Jay helped him with all the snaps and ties to ensure as full coverage as possible. He liked the heated blanket.



I wanted to get a picture of what his eyes look like without glasses before the surgery straightened them. This is pretty typical of what his eyes do.  Both eyes cross but his right eye is dominant and his left eye is esotropic and crosses inward when the glasses don't force it to work.


We still had a little time to kill once everything seemed done on our end. I think he is so awfully cute right here.

The surgery was quick. Only about 45 minutes until a nurse came to get Jay and me to meet with his doctor.  She cut the medial rectus muscle on each eye and moved it and reattached it about 5 mm closer (at least that is how she explained it to me). I would have taken a picture of the doctor but she isn't the relax and stay for awhile sort.  Even Jay was a bit taken aback by her abruptness and says he takes more time to explain things and answer questions when he's doing something as simple as a barium enima or breast biopsy. While it's nice to get a both super friendly and super competent surgeon, I'll take super competent if I have to choose one.  And I do think our doctor is super competent.

Sam was a bit hard to wake up. He kept wanting to roll over onto his stomach, which messed up all his cords and made it hard for the nurses to check his vitals. We'd roll him back onto his back and kept trying to talk to him to wake him up.  His eyes really hurt and bothered him and he had bloody tears if he tried to open them even a little.



Jay tries to coax him to wake up. We asked him what the last thing he could remember and is crinkled up his nose and said, "The stinky gas they gave me!"



The nurse puts a cold compress on his eyes which helps.



He didn't want anything to drink but we thought he should at least have a sip of water.



His class was so sweet. They each made a card with drawings and sayings on it for Sam to read after his surgery. I read them aloud which helped wake him up.


This was as much as he would/could open his eyes and only for a second. He will hate this picture because of the exposed shoulder.



They wheeled him out to the truck. We were only at the surgery center for a little over 2 hours total!



He immediately fell back asleep back at the hotel and slept for the next four hours.



Meanwhile, I used the thoughtful gift cards from Sarah and went and got everybody lunch at Cafe Rio. It's funny but when you live in a small town with no chain restaurants, you kind of crave chain restaurants when they become available. We discovered Outback in Denver, so it always reminds me of going out to dinner with our friends Cory and Libby, and discovered Cafe Rio in Utah. FYI - if you want the meal to be gluten-free, you have to request them to soften the hard corn tortillas they use for tostadas. The soft corn tortillas they regularly use for enchiladas or tacos have wheat in them. So does the red enchilada sauce.  No wonder Jay used to get sick eating there. He was fine this time, though!



When Sam woke up, he didn't want to open his eyes at all and Harry Potter was on CD and I was without old-fashioned CD playing boom box so I downloaded another book from itunes that Sam would enjoy and he lay there and listened to it with the washrag over his eyes.



I also enjoyed the quiet and read my own book.  This is really good!

It took a good half hour to convince Sam to try and open his eyes. I think he was mad and annoyed that they hurt and stung as much as they did but I knew he'd feel better if he moved around a bit and also that it would be good for him to put the scary surgery behind him. After sitting on the bed and looking at me for awhile with half opened eyes, he realized his eyes didn't sting nearly as much as he worried they would and he could just wipe away the tears that came every few minutes. This realization greatly improved his mood and he was happy to get out of the hotel room for dinner. We went and enjoyed another favorite chain restaurant of ours - Red Robin where both he and Jay can get gluten-free burgers. It reminds me of living in Spokane and was our favorite restaurant there.



Sam got a gluten-free cheeseburger and chocolate milkshake. His inner whites of his eyes are very bloodshot and will be for a few weeks but his eyes are definitely straighter, even without glasses.



We had a post-op appointment with this doctor the next morning but had plenty of time to get breakfast before we went. Jay doesn't usually eat breakfast so went running instead but Sam wanted bacon. He tolerated the hashbrowns and eggs:)



This was the side order sized cinnamon roll.  They had a meal-sized cinnamon roll that I guess is the size of an even bigger plate.



I'm realizing this post could also have been titled Sam's surgery and where and what we ate.  I don't normally document our eating habits so well. I only took a picture here because we stopped in Montrose for lunch and I left my purse there.  I haven't done this sort of thing since college! I didn't realize I left my purse there until we were an hour and a half away in Silverton. Jay was so kind and didn't get grumpy and Sam was glad for the additional 3 hours of Harry Potter we got to listen to as we drove all the way back to Montrose to get my purse. It had hundreds of dollars in it ( I took our health care envelope to pay the hospital part of the bill) and nothing had been stolen. Most people really are honest and good.




We also saw these amazing big horn sheep on the drive. They are our state animal and it is simply incredible to watch them climb these cliffs. I don't know how they do it. They blend into the scenery, so it's a bit hard to see, but you can see one of the three climbing up. Truly inspiring.

Thank you to all who prayed for Sam and wished him well. We'll know more about what the future holds in terms of his eye care at his next appointment in a month but the doctor was very happy with his surgery and considered it a success. He'll wear glasses for now and may always wear glasses. I'm grateful for many things - my mom for coming, teachers for caring and supporting (he missed the state standardized testing for the two days we were gone), Jay for worthily holding and administering the priesthood, competent doctors and caring nurses, good restaurants and the money to pay for meals and hotels, good roads and happy brothers who behaved well for their grandmother and all the family members and friends who called/texted/emailed.  I am mostly thankful for Sam and his calm, good self. I hope this surgery will make his future better, easier and straighter:)