Back to Where We Started

Zane’s amazing pediatrician was able to get us an appointment with a local ophthalmologist today. Come to find out, he knows Zane’s surgeon, having done part of his residency with him. Zane’s Denver surgeon also performed surgery on the local ophthalmologist two years ago, as well. So…today’s doctor is quite familiar with the eye surgeon in Denver.

The good news is that we don’t have to go to Denver until Zane’s follow-up appointment in September.

The bad news (and it’s bad) is that the ophthalmologist is pretty sure Zane released his sutures last week. Unfortunately, the only way to correct that is by having him undergo the same surgery again. He is positive Dr. D. (the surgeon) will recommend another operation to correct what happened. Of course, we won’t know for sure until September, but the doctor today said that the droop in Zane’s eye will not improve with time. The swelling is almost completely gone, so the eye likely will not lift any higher than it currently is. And, to me, it looks like it did prior to the surgery—as though no ptosis fix happened at all.

We’ll have to consult with Zane’s surgeon next month, though, to be sure. There are a few problems:

1) We’re not sure if Zane’s insurance will cover another surgery.

2) We’ll now be traveling to Denver in the precarious months of fall and winter, which we tried oh-so hard to avoid.

3) Zane has to undergo anesthesia and surgery again, as well as the same recovery that he just went through (eye shield, arm immobilizers, eye ointment, pain).

We’re not happy. At all. Right now, the whole trip to Denver last month was (most likely) a total waste.

Good News/Bad News

There is good news and potential bad news.

Good news: Zane is finally over his fever and is feeling well again.

Potential bad news: Because Zane rubbed his eye during a time it was supposed to heal, we may have to return to Denver this week. I spoke with the surgeon’s office yesterday, describing what happened and how his eye looks. The surgeon’s rep. said that if the eye has not healed by tomorrow (Wednesday), we need to return to the office. I was hoping it would look better today, but it is still red, swollen, and even droopy (my greatest fear, as this means the surgery was all for nothing). I want to find out if they’ll simply look at an emailed photo of his eye in lieu of the 14-hour round-trip to Denver. I suspect they’ll want to see him in person. But you never know.

Prayers and good thoughts are most welcomed for a recovery of the eye over the next 24 hours. Going to Denver is so not what I want to do and is very upsetting.

Post-Surgery

Things have been busy since our return from Denver, thus the late-ish post.

Zane is still on the mend from his surgery. Unfortunately, he managed to get to his eye and do some major rubbing (which was a huge no-no). I'm hoping he didn't release the sutures and undermine his whole surgery as his eyelid (today) seems a bit droopy again. There is a tad bit of swelling that remains along with bruising, so maybe it's just that. The surgeon said to call the office if the left eye didn’t completely match the right by Monday 8/6. So I’ll give him a call tomorrow. I doubt there’s anything he can do.

The Friday after surgery, Zane and I returned to the hospital for a digestive emptying scan. It was a part of the investigation into his retching and vomiting. It was pretty much a disaster. The plan was to feed him his formula with a nuclear medicine added to get pictures of his upper digestive system to see how slowly or quickly food moves through. It was imperative that Zane not vomit the contents of the formula/nuclear medicine combo or the test would be ruined. The trouble began with the quantity they planned to give him. Zane normally receives 160 mL over an hour. They gave him 240 mL in a matter of two minutes. I warned them it wasn't a good idea to give him that much. They did it anyway. Only moments into the scan, Zane coughed. That was quickly followed by vomiting. They restarted the test after he stopped, but the test results were considered skewed. Zane continued to whimper and grimace for the next forty minutes—all the time attempting to rub his eye for comfort. The whole test was filled with stress. I was glad to be done with it all.

Since arriving home, Jeff and I were able to get away for chunks of time on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. His parents came to watch the boys so we could bike ride, tube down the river, and have dinner in town. Unfortunately, Zane wound up with a fever. I blame the visit to Children’s. This will be the third time he’s picked up a bug after a trip to the hospital. He’s still fighting a fever as of today. Though it’s low-grade, Zane is quite miserable and mainly wants to sleep. I haven’t given him any medication to fight the fever, hoping his body will fight off whatever virus he has. I just hope he improves by later today. He has an in-town appointment tomorrow to have another TLSO made. Sounds like grand fun, huh? Poor kid.