FIRST REAL PAIR OF APHAKIC GLASSES!!!!

Thanks to the generosity of fantastic friends and family, we were able to pick up Sadie's first pair of Aphakic glasses!!!  We drove to the clinic in Edina to pick them up over Joel's lunch break.  Drum roll please.......

 She loves them!!!  At the clinic she was staring at Joel, Emma, and myself with a big smile on her face.  Tears of joy came down my face - they've been coming all day!  
Admittedly, they are a bit shocking at first, since they are SUPER thick and magnify her eyes.  I have been familiar with this in pictures of other little ones online, but in my own daughter.....it was jarring at first.  But we're getting used to them QUICKLY since she has adapted so well and loves them!!!  She seems to be seeing things for the first time in months.  
Contact lenses are still the way to go, and we get that.  But temporarily, while she can't use the CL's after surgery, it's so nice to have a back-up.  Plus, if there's a day that we need to jet out of the house and can't battle the strong baby, then we can just try again later and still have the glasses so she can see God's good world.  :)  
Enjoy the pics!!!


 

Sadie's Christmas presents

Our presents to Sadie for Christmas!  Merry Christmas, darling!

Contact lens cases from the dollar section at Target.  :)

Because I'm too lazy to take a picture with my camera and then download it to my computer, I decided to take a picture with my webcam.  Hopefully you can all read the backwards print.  :)

Yes, we did get her other items, such as toys, but these were glasses/eyes related.  And super fun!

Excuse the language.....

Just to put a smile on your face (and mine)!

Saturday Post-Op

As we've normally had surgeries scheduled for the beginning of the week, having surgery on a Friday left us wondering how we'd handle the post-op.  Dr. G. to the rescue - she met us at the PWB building on campus where absolutely no one else was in the office.  The nice thing was that we got to chat with her for an extended period of time without being concerned that we were taking her away from other patients.  

Sadie's eye looks wonderful!  We are thrilled with how clear the cornea looks.  This morning we got a really good look at where the shunt(s) is located - it's a very tiny plastic tube that we can see at the very top of her cornea (the blue part), but you can only see it if you are shining a very bright light in that area.  It's fascinating, and gruesome at the same time.  :)  We discussed glasses vs. contacts further, and we have more information to understand where Dr. G. is coming from when she requests that Sadie should not wear the contact in her surgical eye for up to 4 weeks.  When the shunt is placed, there is a very tiny plastic piece underneath a fold in the very upper part of her eye, and the tube reaches down into her cornea.  The fear is that while this area is healing, the contact could not only irritate and possibly infect the surgical area, but there is the possibility that the contact lens could go underneath the fold and behind the eye.  

All together now......"GROSS".

So, we're working on a temporary pair of glasses, yet again.  They were not able to check her prescription, so we're getting a lens for her that is akin to a drug store lens - very simple prescription but SOMETHING while she can't wear both contacts.  Our amazing new friends loaned us two pairs of their daughter's glasses that she used when she was Sadie's age.  They are so generous!!!

Hang in there, Sades!  We're getting closer to a more stable life for you, my love!

EIGHTH procedure......sigh.

After the EUA was rescheduled from Monday the 16th to today, Friday the 13th, we frantically changed our schedule, canceling two appointments for the morning and asking for help when it came to my theatre performance that night.  My parents graciously rescheduled their return to the midwest from Florida and were able to come and be with us.  

 

 

After being delayed for about 45 minutes (MUCH better than we assumed after being scheduled for an early afternoon procedure), Joel and I went into this day being more mentally prepared that Sadie would most likely need a Baerveldt shunt placed in her right eye today, and we were correct.  The good news is that her left eye (having been worked on November 11th) is handling the pressure quite well and was at a 16!  (As a reminder, anything under 20 is good.)  Thank the good Lord!  Finding out her right eye was at a 40 was a blow, considering we've been so diligent about the glaucoma drops, but if the shunt is the way to go, that's obviously the right decision.  

 
Sadie was a trooper as usual; we're always amazed by her eagerness to eat after being under anesthesia.  Maybe when she's older it will be harder on her tummy, but she gulped down almost 4 ounces of Pedialite right away and another 4 ounces of formula.  Good girl.  :)  Her post-op nurses were wonderful as usual, and the best news of the day was that because she's past the 6 month mark, she didn't need to stay for the previously required 2 hours in recovery!  
Dr. G. told us that yes, there was another crack in her right cornea, but that SHOULD heal after the pressures go down.  There was a suture coming out in the left eye, so she took care of that.  She also told us that Sadie was a fighter in the OR, showing the nurses and doctors her strength when they were trying to administer meds and tubes.  That's my girl.  :)

Although this is her EIGHTH surgery in 6 months, we pray and hold on to hope that the Lord above knows what He is doing and that this is the right path for our daughter's health and vision.  She amazes us everyday.....we are so lucky to be her parents and learn what real strength is!