Old News: Sammy's Surgery

I am WAY behind on blogging all of our August activities, but here's one catch-up post.

Little Sambo had eye surgery on the 9th of August. His left eye had a plugged tear duct that would not clear, so Dr. K had to go in and clear it out. I learned quite a bit about the eye and tears, specifically, during this process. Did you know that your lacrimal (tear) glands are located above your eyebrows? Tears are produced there, wash down over your eyes, and your tear ducts drain them away down into your nose/throat area. So, essentially, Sambo had a plugged drain that needed to be snaked.

The "snaking" involved inserting a small probe into the upper left tear duct opening and running it down along the side of his nose to remove the blockage. That probe was removed and a second one was inserted with a tiny balloon (think angioplasty) which was then inflated to dialate the duct and prevent it from becoming blocked again.

He was a real trooper through everything. Since he was going to be put under general anesthesia, he had to fast for 12 hours before surgery. I was afraid we'd have a hysterical baby on our hands, but he held up quite well. We got him to the hospital, went through all the forms and consents, then did the pre-op routine. Sammy got his own little hospital gown and pants, plus an ID bracelet on his ankle. As is standard procedure, the doctor initialed the surgery site, which is why the pictures below show my baby with permanent marker on his face.

When it was time to start, I had the "honor" of going back to the OR with Sammy while they put him under. I got to wear the special gown, bonnet, and footies and carry him back to the room. It was pretty awful to lay him down on that HUGE operating table and hold him down while he struggled against the anesthesia mask. Only one parent is allowed to go back, and Sam had told me "You're going." (And really, my thought was "Darn right I am!")

Sambo went to sleep, the nurse walked me out, and then we waited. It was one of the longest hours of my life. Sam and I are both big worriers when it comes to our kids, and we were both subconsciously thinking "Something could be going wrong RIGHT NOW and we wouldn't know." There was much relief when Dr. K. came back and said Sambo had made it though with flying colors. There was even more relief when we heard Sammy crying his way down the hall back to our recovery room.

It took him a long time to wake up fully out of his drug-funk. He got pretty hysterical for a while there, but once he got home, had a nap, and ate lunch, he was back to his old self. And his eye is perfectly clear!

So that is the tale of Sammy's surgery. Extremely minor in the grand scheme of medicine, but pretty significant to our little family. Here's the boy enjoying his post-surgery snack (still in his jammies)