About that Eye

Oh, good Lord, the eye.  We have been dealing with it, it being the chalazion, since JUNE.  EARLY June.  It started out just annoying.  We thought it was just a stye and treated it as such.  Then it stayed longer than expected and only seemed to worsen.  We hit up the pediatrician about it.  And we started double timing the compresses and massages.  Which were a battle every time I had to make her sit still for them.

But none of that helped.  And we were quickly OVER IT ALL.  It finally worsened to the point of taking action ... and the only option for it was surgically draining the beast.  We met up with a pediatric opthamalogist at Vanderbilt for a consult ...

 

 

...and, shortly after that, bit the bullet and scheduled her surgery ... after we got over the $2000 sticker shock.  And that amount after insurance covers $8000!!  What a racket!  Anyway, thankful for our savings, and for flex spending money that starts anew in December.  I am also thankful Josh has so many sick days banked.  He took today off to take her while I stayed home with Noah and Lasa.

This morning before they left, I asked Anna how she felt.  "I feel fine.  I am only a little nervous."  Me, too, kid! Her last words, however, as they pulled out of the garage in response to Josh's guess about how they would sedate her were, "What?!?! No one told me there would be NEEDLES!"

Things moved slowly getting set at the hospital, but Anna enjoyed that and the fact that she had an iPad all to herself.  And truth-be-told, she kinda likes the attention she gets when she is a "patient."

When they told her she would need to change into a gown, she was all "OoooOOOOOooooh!" Ha!  Pretty as a princess even in blah gray.

Lounging before they took her back.  Thankfully, they sedated her with gas first and then with an IV after that.  Josh felt really confident in the team and the procedure after about ten of them came in beforehand to talk about our concerns and what they were going to do.

It went quickly and smoothly.  Dr. Benegas said it was filled to the max. How preciously pitiful is she after the deed is done?  Waiting to wake back up.

On the way home, Josh said she was groggy and that her eye hurt.

We have some cream to treat it and some game plans for preventing and then dealing with it again should it return ... which is apparently more possible than not with these sorts of things.  Good times!  :S

When she woke up enough to focus, she was eager to tell me a joke one of the nurses told her.  "Hey, Mommy!  How do you make a tissue dance?" :} I stole her thunder by knowing the answer already. Oops!  Anyway, Anna has to wear the bandage til tomorrow.  So curious to see how it looks and how it heals up!