Waite's Window: Eye surgery

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Eye surgery

We have been working towards eye surgery to correct Lydia's drifting eyes for almost a year now. We finally got to see Dr. Young in Riverton in September. Lydia, Aaron and I flew to Utah on October 25th for surgery on the 26th. I was so grateful that Grandma Sharp was willing to wait with me at the hospital. We had to be at the hospital about 8:30 in the morning. Unfortunately things got a bit behind schedule and Lydia didn't even go back to surgery until about 11:00. She was starting to get nervous waiting and I was beginning to wonder if we had been forgotten. Aaron was super good while we waited. Lydia chose to have root beer be her flavor to fall asleep to. Surgery took about an hour and a half so Lydia was done about 12:30. It took until about 2:00 before she was awake and eating something so we could go home. I don't like watching our children wake up after surgery. It is hard! Her poor eyes looked so red and sore. She didn't feel very good, but she tried some slushies. She had an orange one and a rootbeer one. When we left the hospital she wanted her slushies, but I hadn't brought them with us.

Lydia rested for the afternoon at Grandma's house. By evening, she was watching movies, but not wanting to do too much. She was glad to have Sprite to drink and crackers to eat.

Thursday morning Lydia told me she was seeing double. I was really hoping it was just her eyes adjusting to working together again. We went back to see Dr. Young at 1:00. She decided she had over tightened the left eye. She used adjustable stitches so it wouldn't be too hard to adjust, but it did require going back into the operating room. I think that the name Waite must mean "will require two surgeries" in some language. I really wanted to cry when Dr. Young said she was going to have to go back in. The operating rooms at Riverton were booked up so we had the choice of going to Primary Childrens at 5:30 or waiting to do it in Riverton on Friday. We decided to go to Primary Childrens. We had to leave Grandma's house at 3:00 to get Lydia there and checked in. Lydia was nervous to go back in for surgery because she knew how hard it was to wake up and that she wouldn't feel very good. She was so scared, but she walked down to surgery without crying when it was her turn. It was a long wait again. Aaron once again did great while waiting. I was so grateful that Grandpa drove us and Grandma was there to watch Aaron while I was with Lydia. It was a long wait again. I think we were at the hospital from 4:00 until 8:00. The first thing Lydia said to me after surgery was "Mama, I want to go back to Grandma's house." I told the nurse that Lydia really wanted to go home so she sped up the process and let us leave. This time I remembered to grab Lydia's slushie and she kept drinking it on the way home.

When we got home we warmed up soup and made cheese sandwiches and then headed to bed. We were all exhausted.

Friday we went back to see Dr. Young again. Lydia said she wasn't seeing double, I sure hoped it was perfect this time. I don't think Lydia would have told me if she was seeing double because she didn't want to go in again. Dr. Young said everything looked good this time. I was so grateful! I think it was a tender mercy that we were staying until Sunday so that Lydia had time to rest and we had time to do a second surgery without having to make another trip to Utah.

Saturday we just hung out at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandma and Grandpa went to a BYU basketball game. We walked up to the park to get some fresh air. In the evening we watched the cultural celebration for the Star Valley Temple.

Sunday we flew home. I don't like doing airports, but it went smoothly. Aaron rode in his stroller and Lydia stayed with me really well. We did have to strip Aaron down and change a leaky diaper in the airport bathroom. I asked Lydia while we were in the bathroom if she needed to use the bathroom. She said no. We no sooner made our way back to the waiting area when she told me she had to go to the bathroom. We pushed the stroller and brought our carry ons back into the bathroom. When we got back to the waiting area it was just about time to board the plane. Aaron slept through the whole flight. It was a good trip. We are so grateful that Lydia doesn't have to patch to keep her eyes from drifting. I got to go to the broadcast of the Star Valley Temple dedication with Neil, Matthew, Emma, David and Dallin when I got home.