Kate's Surgery

Just a day before sweet Kate turned eight weeks old, she had surgery to remove her cataract from her left eye. We got up EARLY on the morning of May 21 to head to Children's Medical Center in Plano for her operation. Even though cataract surgery is the most commonly performed surgery in the U.S., it's a different animal when the operation is performed a)on any baby and b)MY BABY!!! Let's let the pictures tell the story...



Here's our sweet girl just after we checked in, with her little ankle ID bracelet.

Here's the screenshot of my phone after I used an app to figure out how much 5.3 kg is in American. :) She weighed 11 lbs 11 oz on the day of surgery - tiny, yet sturdier than she would have been had we done the surgery on May 7 as planned!

Kate in her (enormous) hospital gown. I give God all the credit for my not weeping uncontrollably as soon as we put this on her!

And don't worry, Voldemort didn't try to attack Jeremy and me; this is just where they marked to make sure they performed the surgery on the correct eye. :)

You learn so many things when you have children. Here's one thing I've learned from mine: people who work in children's hospitals are God's angels. With both Luke's ear tube surgery (just a month after his autism diagnosis) and Kate's eye surgery, Jeremy and I couldn't be more impressed with the nurses and doctors we've met. Talk about people that have the perfect balance of smarts and heart. Every individual we spoke with conveyed her competence and compassion simultaneously. I wish most doctors for adults did that! As a result, as soon as Kate was wheeled back, we felt at peace.

(You know what else helps? We didn't have to see any of the 'yucky' stuff, like her getting her IV and breathing tube. Oh my Lord, I'm sure I would have just died.)

While Jeremy and I ate breakfast and chatted with our pastor, the next 45 minutes seemed to zip on by. Before we knew it, we got called back to Dr. Wang, who said that everything had gone perfectly. Shortly thereafter we got to see our beautiful Katherine. As is the case when kids come out of anesthesia, sweet Kate was NOT a happy camper. I think the worst was how hoarse and pitiful her cries were because of the breathing tube. :( Poor girl!

Once she was able to eat a little, we got to go home. We arrived at 5:45 a.m. and were heading home by about 10:30 a.m. Isn't modern medicine miraculous?

Here's a side view of her post-surgery bandaging. Nothing was going to get near that eye!

The next day we went back to Dr. Wang's office for a post-op appointment. Here are some "after" shots: 

 Where her IV was. :(

We got another great report and were sent home for another week. In the meantime, we had goop galore to apply to her eye: assorted drops during the day, one ointment in the morning, one ointment at night, and they eye shield at bedtime every night.

Kate was so resilient - no, IS so resilient - through all of this. Within a couple of days, she was back to her usual self. She even fit in a workout. :)

It has been neat watching Kate see the world differently (and presumably WAY more clearly, though any eight-week old baby only has 20-400 vision) since she's gotten her contact lens. We are so proud of our sweet, brave little girl! 

As I suspected before the surgery, now that it's in the rear-view mirror, I can breathe again and feel so much more at ease. Everything went as perfectly as possible, and I know that has EVERYTHING to do with how prayed over Kate and our family was leading up to the day. Thanks to all of you who kept Kate, her family, and her doctors in their prayers! We appreciate you so much!