Jacob's eye surgery

JACOB SURGERY 7.24.2014

Jacob had strabismus surgery to straighten his eyes on July 24, 2014, a Thursday. Dad took the day off and we woke up super early to take him in. We all got up about 5:30, dad showered with him, and we got ready to go at six to be there by 6:30. We got there at 6:30 and checked in. Him and Katelyn just played with the toys and were just fine. They finally called us back about an hour later to get him ready. They checked all his weight and vitals and talked to us about the procedure. At that time it was getting close to 8. We changed him into his little hospital jammies and a little cap and he looked SOOOOOO cute. The cutest patient I ever did see.   His little cheeks  were so chubby looking and he was just smiling and talking cute. He was being silly and would pull his hospital cap over his face and laugh. Then they gave him some medicine to help calm him down before they took him back. That's why he started getting really silly, he mainly was talking baby talk to us and pushing us wish his hands and laughing. Then his eyes started getting tired looking and he would just want to lie down. So they took him back and he just lied down and watched toy story as they wheeled him off. Right after I watched my baby be taken away I could feel the emotions begin to rise and the tears well up in my eyes. I was so nervous for my baby and had a constant prayer in my heart that everything would be ok. In the surgery they would put him completely out with laughing gas and then insert an iv and a breathing tube to sustain his breathing. I was kind of freaked out about the tube, I didn't realize beforehand they would have to do that. So we waited, and waited, ate some breakfast, which I felt so bad for Jacob because he couldn't eat anything and woke up super hungry so I knew he would be so tired and cranky and hungry after the surgery. Finally they called his name from the waiting room. Doctor Goldblum came out and told me that the surgery had been successful. I was so happy. Next we would just need to wait outside until he started waking up and then we could go back. We waited for awhile, about 45 minutes if not longer, and I knew he was probably super tired and not wanting to wake up. Finally they came out and said he was waking up. I was not prepared to walk into what came next. I walked into his room and he was throwing his arms around everywhere and bleeding on his hands and eyes and screaming. I ran to his side and grabbed his arms and said "mama's here baby, I got you." I kept trying to reassure him, but he was so upset. He kept wanting to rub his eyes. They told me that while they were wrestling to keep his hands down he yanked his IV out. This kind of made me upset, but whatever, I couldn't do anything about it. So I took him off the bed and tried rocking him in the chair, he kept trying to open his eyes and he kept screaming and screaming and trying to rub his eyes. At this point I literally felt so troubled. I didn't know what to do for my baby. I just remember praying over and over for help from my Heavenly Father to heal my baby and take his pain away. I would gladly take his pain from him. It broke my heart so much to see him like this and in pain. He kept crying and his tears were red from blood. It scared me, I was nervous, I was stressed, I was sad, I was all kinds of emotional. I just kept rocking and holding my sweet baby in my arms, trying to calm him down and sing to him and remind him I was there for him. He would drink juice (He drank a TON!) and then cry and try to rub his eyes, then he would fall asleep for a minute and then cry and scream and try to break free from my grasp on his hands. I seriously felt so, so bad. I continued to pray and ask for help from Nicholas and he would try to hold him too every now and then. They finally gave him some Tylenol and he really calmed down. I knew he was in pain, even though they said it probably just bothered him. He finally fell asleep in my arms and just rested. We decided to go home. We took him in the car and he slept. When we got home he got pretty cranky again and would cry and cry and say his eyes hurt. He would say, "Mama help me! My eyes!" and that would just break my heart because I felt helpless. I would say, "I'm here baby, I'm going to help you, Mama is here for you." Finally three hours later we drove to the store to get ibuprofen for him and he was crying in the car and we finally gave him some. It helped him a bit but he would still say his eyes hurt him. That went on pretty much the whole day. He had little spurts of energy and enthusiasm and would get off the couch and blindly find Katelyn and grab her and laugh. Then he would start crying again saying his eyes hurt. For dinner he specifically requested, "Hot og, Izza, and oh oo the ark." (Hot dog, pizza, and go to the park.) He was so cute and excited about it. He ate his hotdog at the house. Finally towards the end of the day I asked him if he wanted to go outside. He said yes and seemed very happy about that. I was afraid he might start screaming and trying to rub his eyes, but the whole time he just sat happily in the stroller. I think the fresh air helped him and it felt good to be outside. He said he wanted to go to the park. He would talk to us and just keep his eyes closed the whole walk. We walked for about an hour as he rode in the stroller. We took him down the slide a couple of times and then went home. He slept great after that! He woke up a few times crying for mama, but he did pretty good.

Day After Surgery:

Jacob did really well the second day. He woke up smiling and waving, with his eyes closed saying "Hi mama" :) He was so cute. He still would not open his eyes, but he was pretty happy most of the day. He cried a few times throughout the day, but was fairly happy. He took a lot of naps. He liked walking around the house trying to find different things and reaching his hands out to find things. He would love finding Katelyn and grabbing her and laughing. He Slept so much better. He didn't have to take any pain medicine! We went to a friends house for dinner and swimming. He couldn't get in of course, but he was so sad he wanted to so bad. So we let him put his feet in and he loved that! He would just splash his feet and smile. By around 8:30 he just told mom "I want to go nigh night" So I lied him down on one of the patio chairs and he fell right asleep. I Love my little JJ.

Third day: Jacob finally opened his eyes today! We had to bribe him with a lot of candy, but I could tell he was so scared, poor baby. He started out just a little by little then by the time Katelyn and I got home from mani/pedis, which was about an hour long, he had them all the way open watching t.v. I know he was so happy to finally have them open! I'm so happy my baby can see again. His eyes on the inside are really, really red. We have to wash them every day. Like this morning they were glued shut with all the goop so I washed him down and do every morning. Love my little Jacob.

Here are a few pictures. These make me so sad so I only want to post one.

 I mean, isn't that^^ just the cutest face you have ever seen?? I love him so much!!

And then this one just breaks my heart :( His lids were swollen for a few days. The left one was so bad it looked purple and like someone had punched him. He couldn't open it all the way because it was swollen. My poor baby.

 He is doing so much better now though! His eyes look great and we are so thankful that every thing went well. I hope he doesn't need any more surgeries in the future. WE love our little Jacob! Such a tough boy!

This is him opening a package he got from his sweet cousins Leila and Tyler. It made him so incredibly happy! We are so grateful for all of our family and friends who were thinking of him during this time.