Abby's eye surgery, ten months later

Last March Abby had her eye surgery. The previous July we had discovered that she had a lazy eye (she would go cross-eyed when she was tired or watching tv, usually with just one eye). She wore a patch on her good eye for about six months so that both eyes would be equally strong. This essentially made her cross-eyed.




Patching while making "gingerbread" houses.




Cross-eyed cutie.
Abby's local eye doctor recommended a wonderful surgeon at Primary Children's Medical Center. The surgery was basically that they were going to remove the muscles on both eyes, reposition the eyes, and reattach the muscles.




Abby in the parking garage at PCMC.




I remember I braided her hair so it would be out of the way but not uncomfortable like pigtails when she would be lying down.




This picture makes my heart heavy. Abby is pretty nervous but Fluke was just beyond nervous. He was so stressed that day.




Excited to ride on the elevator.












The toys!!! in the waiting rooms were so exciting!!!




This is my all-time favorite picture of Abby. She had just told us there were so many toys that she didn't know which one to play with first.




Changed and starting to get a little more nervous. There weren't as many toys in this room.




I took these jammies and kept them. Not sure if I was supposed to but they are in Abby's closet with some other important items from that day.
Just after these pictures were taken they gave her something to help her forget. She got a little goofy for a while. They took us to another waiting area. She was given a dolly with a hospital gown and a marker to decorate the dolly's face. Whoever decided to give a kid drugs and marker must have been stoned themselves. See results a few photos below.
The anesthesiologist had to pry Abby off Fluke. It was absolutely horrible. She was screaming like mad and he kept telling us she wouldn't remember. They took her into what I think was the operating room and the door closed and she kept screaming and we just stood there in the hall feeling overwhelmed and scared.
We asked her about this the other day and she said when they took her into the room they tried to get her to "blow up a balloon" and she refused and screamed and screamed. And then she woke up. So I guess the forgetting medicine did a pretty good job.
The surgery went as well as could be expected.
I went in to see her first because Fluke's had multiple surgeries and so I knew how bizarre she was going to be and I didn't want him to freak out. Also only one of us could go back. That sucked. I went back and she was SO PISSED OFF. She was screaming and all the other kids were like, what's up with her? They had put these braces on her arm so she couldn't pull her IV out. I climbed up on the bed and the only thing she kept telling me was she wanted her arm braces off and she wanted her dad. I couldn't do anything to help her! It was awful.
They wheeled us into another room and Fluke was finally able to join us. She finally calmed down and we were able to leave soon after.




Zonked in the car. There was a worry that she would get nauseous from the anesthesia but she just slept the whole way home. She pretty much didn't open her eyes the rest of the day.




The day after.




Breakfast the next day.








Pissed I'm still taking pictures.








We think the puffy white areas were from whatever they had attached to her face to keep her eyes open.




Someone donated blankets to kids that had surgery at PCMC and here's the one Abby picked.




Dolly on the undecorated side.




Abby's drug-induced artwork.




Still exhausted a few days later.

12 X 12 August

It's been awhile!
Abs got out the old Fisher Price play sets this morning. The parking garage is now the official Little People playground (behind her head) complete with slide.



She's pretty new to eating whole apples.







Riding down the hill after Mom said, "No, you may not ride down the hill."



Walk at Rendezvous park. Throwing rocks in the "ocean."







Dance time before nap time. Sorry half the post is just this but I love this stage of not being embarrassed to dance how she wants to. Love this kid.

Favorite phone pictures from the last week or so

Me, as drawn by a student.



She's been growing.



The bathrobe I made is already falling apart but it's still doing its job.



It's too sunny!



Love this one. Not to worry, there's a couch on the other side.

February 12 X 12

February 12th fell on a Sunday this year. I had let Abby sleep with her music maker and she wanted to play with it first thing in the morning. It was dark enough when she woke up that I was able to convince her it was still nighttime. We snuggled in her room with her techno light/lullaby maker until the sunshine finally made its way into her room.

Snuggle time with Dad while breakfast was being prepared. She's watching Peep and the Big Wide World no doubt. Abby is still wearing the patch. She's going to have surgery on both eyes in a few weeks. Fluke is freaking out. I'm holding it together. Surgery in general is scary but surgery involving your child is just hard to wrap your mind around.

We made this German pancake. It was really puffed up. After the powdered sugar was applied...

it started puffing out steam and fell immediately. It was super cool to watch. It tasted like sweet Yorkshire pudding.

We were all dressed up for church so we decided to do a quick family photo shoot. How cute is this kid? She packs her own backpack every week for church. It is always fun to see what items she picks. A bed from the doll house! Stickers with no paper! Random stuffed animals! I usually find her a task to work on while I edit her choices.

Here's the best one of the whole family.

After church and just before bedtime Abby had to get some bouncing in. She played with a hippity-hop at her cousins' house and loved it. Fluke bought her this one and she takes it with her to bed (where it gets put up where she can't reach it) and she gets back on it as soon as she is out of bed in the morning.

Pre-bed gymnastics. Every night Abby convinces Fluke to throw her in the air or balance her on his feet while he's laying on his back. Scares me to death. I assume they are doing some pre-workout stretching here.

Silly faces.

Sweet faces.

Laughing at Dad doing something silly just to make us laugh.

Not officially taken on the 12th...we were at the library a few days before and Abby was concerned about this book that was falling apart. She showed it to the librarian who said it would be thrown away unless Abby would like to keep it. She was so excited and held on to this ratty thing all night.