Eye Surgery

This week has been

Traumatic.

Hectic.

Busy.

Chaotic.

Loud.

Interruptive.

And full of blessings and God’s intervention.

Monday the boys had to meet with their mental health therapist for the first time (most all kids in foster care see one and we have to do follow-up when they are placed). We weren’t home 2 hours when Cody (12) comes running in with, “Mom, I got hit with a stick in the eye. Help me please.”

It about stopped this old mom’s heart to turn around and see this boy with a bloody eye standing there.

So I washed him up, couldn’t tell where the blood was truly coming from but when I look at his eyeball, well…it wasn’t blue any more it was rabbit red!!!

I called our optometrist right away to see if I should bring him in there or head straight to the ER.

It seemed like forever to get that return phone call. He said to go ahead and bring him in to the office. Then he decided he’d call a specialist after seeing Cody.

The specialist said to take Cody to the local hospital for a CT Scan so they could possibly determine what was going on. He then decided he needed emergency surgery.

I came home to find some paperwork just in case they question whether we had custody or authorization for surgery for Cody or not.

I went in panic mode because I could not find that paperwork anywhere!!

Brandy and Robert showed up to get the other 7 kids. They insisted I call the boys’ caseworker. She had to calm me down. Then told me to call our local caseworker as he could run the papers to the hospital if needed.

Those two handled everything on that end. Angels in disguise I tell ya!!! What a huge blessing they were and relieved me of that stress and worry.

The system works when the right people are there.

So…we headed up to the hospital in the big city where we were told the surgeon would be waiting for us.

Well surprise of all surprises….the Dr. was not there when we got there. The ER didn’t know anything about it. The OR didn’t know anything about it.

The ER nurse had the gall to ask, “are you sure you are at the right hospital?” I just about lost it again.

Here my son had something seriously wrong with his eye, still weeping blood, we were told he needed emergency surgery NOW, and no one is doing anything to help. <grrrrr>

They FINALLY called the Dr. He says the ER Dr. has to see him first (I don’t know if that is insurance protocol or what).

Cody came running in about 2:30….he did not go into surgery until 11:30. Fortunately, no infection set in.

The boys’ story is they were outside playing fetch with the dog with a stick. Cody decided to catch the stick with his left eye. Fortunately the stick came at him at an angle. Had it come at him dead on, the Dr. said he’d have probably lost his eye totally.

So praise the Lord it wasn’t directly from the front.

The report after surgery is he has a 10mm (HUGE) laceration on the temple side of his cornea. From the laceration, the iris was sliding out. That’s not such a good thing. The surgeon (thank the Lord for his calling as a Retina specialist) had to put the iris back in place and stitch up the laceration. Cody has some interior stitches as well as exterior stitches (dissolvable).

The eye has a lot of healing to do. There is still so much blood on the backside of the eye that the specialist cannot see the retina. Cody has to have 3 different types of eye drops several times a day to try to clear all that up so he can see the health of the retina. IF the retina is damaged, Cody will have to have another surgery in a couple weeks for retina repair.

Cody’s activities are totally limited to basically a couch potato and staying home from school. No running, jumping, jostling, bending over, or anything that can jar his head/eye. If that retina is not intact….well, any jarring can cause more damage. This has been hard for a boy that runs, hops, bounces wherever he goes. He has to wear an eye shield at night so he doesn’t accidentally poke himself while sleeping.

Cody didn’t even cry when the accident happened. He was scared but never cried. Before surgery when he was asked if it hurt, he could only answer with a yes but no kind of thing. After surgery, the highest his pain got was a 4 out of 10. He only took pain meds once. He said his IV was a 9 out of 10, so they took the IV out. He never got sick after surgery and has eating healthily every meal since.

Some excellent news, Cody can see colors and most things as a double vision. The Dr. did not expect anything like that this soon. He said this is totally encouraging and he is very very pleased with Cody’s healing thus far.

We were released to come home Wednesday morning.

Follow-up was on Friday. The eye is healing but still blood back in there so cannot see the whole retina. What the Dr. could see using an ultra sound, looks really really good. But, that wasn’t all of it. So we’ll go back in next Friday. The eye drops will continue until then, so he’ll stay out of school so those can be administered on schedule.

Interruptions at home for those is one thing, at school would be worse.

The Dr. does not expect full eyesight to return but he is encouraged by what he can see currently. He said he didn’t expect that much this soon.

When we got back into town on Wednesday, we stopped by Brandy’s and got the rest of the kids. Her kids wanted to come home with us as well.

When we got home we hopped right onto the science bandwagon So we had class on the function of the eye. What happened with Cody. His limits as directed by the Dr. and why they were important.

We were honest that if these aren’t followed, Cody could lose total sight in that eye permanently. We reminded them that this is a team effort. Cody has to do his part, we have to do ours.

Right as we were finishing with “class”…my mom and sister walked in. About 20 minutes later, my brother and his wife walked (from Utah).

I called Brandy about bringing home pizza for dinner.

The whole afternoon/evening was loud. I just wanted some peace.

My brother stayed the night with us and didn’t leave til about 9:30 a.m.

Thursday afternoon, Austin (14) had …. oh what to call it ….. a break through. He had some emotional, angry issues that came all out. He cried a lot, my heart broke for what this boy has been through. At the end, we both felt some healing. (Also the stick that hit Cody had left Austin’s hand and he was harboring that guilt too.)

That evening the caseworker had an appointment to do his monthly visit here at the house. He stayed about an hour.

That went well. He said he’s never seen kids adapt, bond, and just blend right in to their new families as fast as he’s seen these boys do. He wishes all his families/adoptions were so easy.

Friday we had to take Cody for his follow-up appointment. We had to go to the big city. Then we came home intending to take a little nap but I guess the other 11 kids missed us too much to allow us to do that.

That evening we drove back up to the big city for dinner because our Goddaughter was down here from college for a visit.

This (Saturday), Dave and Donald met with Pastor and others for their monthly men’s breakfast/Bible study. Then we had two of the grandkids final soccer games.

Dave’s mom and little brother will be over here within an hour. It’ll be their first time meeting Austin and Cody.

In all this week….God has had His hand in there too.

With the accident, hospital stay, there has been more bonding. Cody has opened up more and has really begun to bond with Dave. Austin and Cody are bonding as brothers (they’ve been doing therapy just to get that and here all it took was a serious accident).

Cody has been a trooper all week with everything going on and both boys have had to learn to trust us more.

Austin had to trust us that we’d make sure all Cody’s needs would be met and we’d bring him home “fixed”.

Cody has had to trust that we would also take care of him and see that his needs were met. We’ve had to advocate for him some this week.

They’ve both seen the support of extended family, and how they’ve just been totally enveloped with open arms.

They’ve had to see that God does answer prayers, and that Cody is healing and healing far better than expected.

Cody has also learned what he does not want to do as a career for his life. He does not want to be a Dr. or a nurse. “They never get any sleep.” LOL

If you happen to think of Cody over the next week or so, please keep his healing in your prayers. That his eye will continue to heal much better than expected. In ways only God can do.

Praise Him in that Cody did not lose his eye totally and he won’t be totally blind in that one eye. Praising that trust and more bonding is happening among the whole family. That the boys are beginning to feel secure, and know they are wanted and loved.

If you’ve stuck with this long week with me thus far…. thank you.

God’s Blessings

Vickie