Anyone's child had eye surgery?

[ChristusG]

DD5 has exotropia caused by amblyopia (in other words, one eye turns outwards due to having a lazy eye). We've tried patching....we can't get her to do any eye exercises....so the next step is surgery because it is just getting worse.

 

So DD5 is set to have surgery on the 24th of this month. We have a pre-op appointment on Thursday of this week.

 

I'm just wondering what to expect. The surgeon (which is the doctor who has been seeing DD for the past few years about her eyes) is really good. I'm comfortable with her. But DD will be going under general anesthesia and CUTTING her eye muscles, so of course, I'm a little apprehensive. I'm sure that blindness is a risk. And that worries me. And the doctor said there should be no pain afterwards....just a feeling like there is something in her eyes, which should only last about a day.

 

Anyone have any experience with eye surgery on your kids?

[justamouse]

My son had some muscular eye surgery and it wasn't as bad as we thought. He did suffer for a bit, and spent a lot of time lying on the couch with his eyes closed. A couple of days, I think (but he had ALL the muscles in BOTH eyes done). I remember he said his eyes felt very sandy. But it is a quick recovery. :grouphug:

[Mabeline]

My youngest had eye surgery at one year old to correct his eyes. They did both of them but only one turned in due to lazy eye. He was so small so it was really scary, but everything was fine. They gave him an oral sedative before they took him away and he was still very groggy when they brought him back out. So I don't think he remembers being away from me. He started crying when he woke up, but I nursed him for a while, he didn't seem like he was in too much pain. His eyes were a little swollen and the whites were all red, but it was so beautiful to have both his eyes look at me for the first time since he was born. I don't remember how long his eyes were red, but I don't think it was more than a few days.

 

Over the years we have tried patching but it didn't work, his lazy eye still wanders. He has worn glasses since he was nine months old, but overall his vision isn't the greatest. His seems to compensate pretty well though.

[GoVanGogh]

My DS had eye surgery for strabismus when he was ~6 years of age. (About four years ago.)

 

This was DS's fifth surgery (not eye surgery!) so we knew that he did not respond well to anesthesia. Thankfully, our doctor listened to us and they gave DS an additional sedative prior. DS's fourth surgery (unbilical hernia) was a nightmare when he came up from sedation... I knew I couldn't go through that again!

If your child hasn't had surgery before, I would be sure to discuss this with surgeon... Most children are very frightened when they are coming to. It is common for them to scream, throw a fit and just generally not act themselves. Brace yourself for this.

I had a nurse tell me after the hernia surgery that my son was an awful child because he threw a popsicle at her... I knew that wasn't my normal child, but the meds. I have since been told that anger is common post-surgery reaction in children. (They are confused by their surroundings and this comes out as anger.)

 

A friend put us in touch with another family whose child had just had the same eye surgery, which ended up being an incredible blessing to us. She warned me there would be a lot of blood.

I shared this with our doctor and he confirmed there would be. I told him I couldn't handle it, so he said he would keep DS back in post-op a little longer until bleeding had subsided. We had no external bleeding, thankfully.

 

Along that line, though - there was quite a bit of internal bleeding. I don't know about that particular surgery, but all of the white part of DS's eyes were very bloody for a week after. Brace yourself for this.

 

Make sure you have lots of your child's favorite food on hand, along with some Sprite, 7-Up or Gatorade. They probably won't feel like eating much the first day.

 

Our biggest challenge ended up being keeping him "down" for 10 days post-surgery. In fact... We got home from surgery and put DS down on the floor to sleep. He slept for a few hours. I had just gotten up to go into the kitchen for something when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. In that short amount of time (20 seconds?!) DS had gotten up and was standing on the back of the couch. As I ran to get him, he jumped off the back of the couch! So much for keeping him down. LOL. That was pretty much the way the next 10 days went. It was a long, long 10 days.

Besides being inactive, DS was not allowed to swim or play outside. Showering and hair washing were okay.

 

But DD will be going under general anesthesia and CUTTING her eye muscles, so of course, I'm a little apprehensive. I'm sure that blindness is a risk. And that worries me.

This was my biggest fear.

I have worn glasses since I was five. I am very, very nervous about eye issues. I put complete faith in my son's eye doctor. I trusted him. But I also told him that I didn't want to know the specifics of the surgery. I had researched it enough to know the basics and that was fine with me.

 

CC: I could not even pray over my son's surgery, I was so freaked out by it. I would fall apart trying to pray. Friends would ask me if I had specific prayer requests and I would tell them I couldn't think about the surgery to have any, just pray as they felt led. It really is a lot to think about and my heart goes out to you. :grouphug:

I don't know you, but if you would like me to be in prayer for your daughter and your family during that time, please feel free to PM me.

 

We were so apprehensive about having the surgery and took a "wait and see" approach for two years while we researched it and felt comfortable with the doctor and the surgery. Afterward, we wish we had had the surgery earlier. It made such a remarkable and obvious difference in DS's vision.

[godsaggie]

My daughter's eyes were completely crossed. It was gradual...over the course of a few months starting when she was about 2 1/2. It was so hard to look at her. We were finally able to see a specialist in pediatric eyecare. I was so very nervous...they told us that only surgery would correct it (we were hoping that patches and glasses would work.) They did both eyes (one wasn't quite as bad as the other) under general anesthesia. The recovery time was amazing! She cried terribly mostly because she was scared. Her eyes were covered up and she was afraid to open them. But after about 4 hours, we went to a LEGO store and she finally opened her eyes. They were perfect (well other than being red.) She was a little sensitive to light for a few days. The only thing she couldn't do was go in a swimming pool for two weeks. The risks were so minimal...and the results were worth it.

 

ETA: If we would not have done the surgery, she would eventually have lost part of her vision. My nephew who is 10 was supposed to have this surgery done when he was little. Well, his mom is an idiot and didn't get anything taken care of...now it's too late for surgery to correct anything and he has vision loss in one of his eyes.

Edited July 8, 2012 by godsaggie

[Ewe Mama]

DD9 had surgery for strabismus on both eyes in February. She was under a general and the muscles were cut. She was very woozy afterwards and cried because her eyes did hurt. She had special eye drops twice a day which helped with the pain, but we also gave her tylenol. There was a slight bloody discharge from both eyes and her eyes were bloody/red for about a week until they healed.

 

The dr. did not prepare us for any of that. :glare: I spent a lot of time reading aloud to her that week because she was sensitive to the light.

[elise1mds]

My DS had eye surgery when he was 2 1/2 for strabismus. He did okay. It was his second surgery (his first one was when he was 3 months old and for something entirely different), so I knew he woke up cranky. The nurses panicked when he wouldn't stop crying when he woke up, so they had to re-sedate him a little bit because he was crying tears of blood. Rather unnerving for Mama. Anyway, after we got home and he woke up properly, he was fine. We took it easy for a day or so, and he's been fine ever since. You guys are in my thoughts. Eye surgery is scary!

[ChristusG]

Thanks for all of your replies! Hopefully the doctor will prepare us for what is to come when we meet with her on Thursday. I didn't realize there would be bloody discharge from her eyes....yikes!! I mean, of course it makes sense but I didn't think about that. I'm not very good with blood. :ack2:

 

DD5 is a very sensitive child....I'm not exactly sure how much to tell her and when to tell her. I'm thinking of not telling her until the afternoon before the surgery. And I'm definitely not saying the word "surgery" or anything about cutting the muscles. Maybe I'll just explain that the doctor will give her some medicine to take a nap and while she's asleep they are going to fix her eyes. But to her, nothing is wrong with her eyes. She says she cannot "feel" the eye go sideways, so she's not going to love the fact that they are fixing something that is not broken to her. She will still need to wear glasses afterwards because she has a rather large astigmatism....so it won't make any different to her right now whether her eyes are fixed or not since she'll still have to wear glasses.

 

And thanks for the warning about her being cranky when she wakes from anesthesia. She did have a "whiff" of anesthesia when she was about 18 months old for a scope of her throat and did fine....but that was such a very short time. Maybe 10 minutes to do the whole thing.

 

Does anyone know if we will be allowed back as she wakes up so that she will not be afraid?

[GoVanGogh]

Does anyone know if we will be allowed back as she wakes up so that she will not be afraid?

It depends on the age of the child and the surgical center.

I know after DS's fourth surgery, the doctor was meeting with us and telling us it would be about 30 minutes before we could go back when another doctor ran out and said we (the parents) needed to get back right then. DS had woken up and was very upset and they couldn't get him calmed down.

In my experience, though, they are afraid/upset no matter what. Because of the anesthesia, they are not really aware of anything - they don't exactly recognize mom and dad as a source of comfort. They don't remember it the next day, not that that makes it better at the time. :grouphug:

 

DS was too young to be aware of this 1st, 2nd and 3rd surgery. We waited to tell him about the 4th surgery until the day before.

He was very aware of the eye surgery and actually asked us for the surgery. (We were taking a wait and see approach and he knew this. He finally asked for his eyes to be fixed, so we took this as a sign that he was aware of the need and ready.)

 

I don't know with your daughter... I would say to wait as long as possible, as their is no need to alarm her or give her reason to worry. :grouphug: That is so hard to know.

[stripe]

:grouphug:

 

I highly recommend this forum, from Prevent Blindness America

http://198.170.234.66/discus/messages/20/20.html

[HappyGrace]

I would like to encourage you that I had this surgery 35 years ago and now that eye has always been my BETTER eye as far as vision ever since then-I've never had any problems with it since then and am just now starting to get nearsighted, which is normal for my age (43).

 

I only vaguely remember even being in the hospital, and the sandy feeling that was mentioned, and overall it was a very positive experience. I have no negative memories associated with it at all. Prayers for a good result for her!

[Guest SingingPraises]

I would definitely recommend having an audio book handy for post-op.:)

 

It's been a few years since my then-11-yr-old ds had eye surgery. I remember I was a big chicken and sent my dh with him to the hospital while I stayed home with the other kids. And I remember the pain killers for afterwards were absolutely necessary. As was having good/favorite food on hand. He had a lens replaced, so I realize it was different surgery, but everything went fine.

[eloquacious]

Yes, my son had a similar surgery when he was two, on both eyes. He was little, granted, but I remember being surprised by how quickly he recovered from it all. He was groggy and such afterwards, and of course his eyes looked monstrous at first (all red and bloodshot), but that healed quickly. He was too little to really care about his reflection, so he didn't really see it - your daughter will be older, so perhaps shielding her from mirrors the first few days might help? I'm not sure.

 

I hope all goes well for you and your daughter!