The Surgery

Packing Isabelle's princess purse plus another bag of books and things, getting her bathed and to bed by 7:30, making sure she ate and drank enough to get her through the following morning, Michael and I having a glass of wine before bedtime and setting our alarm for 5:30am...that was how we spent the night before heading out to the hospital at 6:30am for her Isabelle's eye surgery.

Papa and Isabelle walking into the hospital-7:30am
Hitting the road at 6:30am, we arrived at the Out Patient Surgery waiting room at 7:45am on the nose and it was completely empty; we thought the place was closed (not very reassuring to an already nervous Mom and Dad). A few more patients came in and then finally a nurse. YAY! We got Isabelle all signed in and told her to listen for when her name is called and then it will be her turn. Looking around there were people both young and old waiting too. The youngest was a CUTE little boy who was less than a year old who had a severely crossed left eye...made my little one's watery eye seem like nothing.

For the last 4 weeks we have been talking about this day; "Who is your eye doctor?", we would ask Isabelle. "Dr. Nunoz", she would respond (its Dr. Munoz but Nunoz is close enough). Then we would ask, "What is Dr. Munoz going to do?". "Fix my eyes. Make them all better" would be Isabelle's response. She had become very aware of her "dripping eye" and would even tell us when it was dripping. So when Nurse Christina called Isabelle's name and we followed her into the back, we talked about it again. Isabelle was walking and half listening to what we were saying but we could tell that she was very preoccupied in checking out her new surroundings; all the different smells, sounds and of course, the people dressed the same with hats and masks on. Nurse Christina walked us to the very last bed where Dr. Munoz was waiting to greet us. With a big smile, Isabelle said "Hi" to her and something about getting her eyes fixed.

Izzy trying to put a glove on Papa
There were a little pair of pink, puppy dog scrubs for Isabelle lying on the bed that we had to get Isabelle changed into. We placed a blanket we brought from home and Aloha Bear on her bed as Nurse Christina was talking to Isabelle and us, letting us know what all is going to happen. Joel, the anesthesiologist, came in to introduce himself as well as his assistant. They were so on top of everything which calmed both Michael's and my nerves until it was time to get her into her "new jam-jams" (aka: the puppy dog scrubs) and a surgery hat. I don't think I have ever heard our little one cry as loud as she did just then. Not even at birth did she hit that level. She did NOT want to put them on and told us that she wanted to wear her clothes. We told her she would have her panties on but needs to put on the cute, puppy dog jammies while Dr. Munoz fixes your eyes. She clung to Michael with a death grip beyond belief, we could not peel her off of him! We were doing everything to try to get her to calm down so I could finish stripping her clothes off her and get her into her scrubs as well as putting her hospital bracelet on which she wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with. Just as I thought this is not going to happen, I saw boxes of gloves on the wall...BINGO! Remembering our visits to Dr. Diab and Carlo when he was in the hospital, Isabelle always asked for gloves. She LOVED putting on doctor gloves. I immediately asked her if she wanted one and as quick as a wink, the crying and tears stopped and a huge smile spread across her face, "Yes!" she said. From there we got her jammie situation taken care of, her earrings taken out, an oxygen test (they wrap a little thing around her big toe to measure her oxygen levels) and she started chatting away with Nurse Christina and us. No sedative cocktail was needed for this little one.

And one for her... Then 8:30am came around...surgery time. We are sitting there chatting it up with Nurse Christina, playing with Isabelle and her gloves and then Joel comes over. "OK, its time to go" he says. I look at Michael who is holding Isabelle who looks back at me with pain/sadness behind his eyes, who then turns around and in his nervous jokingly way says to Joel, "Here, take her. Fast like a band aid so it doesn't hurt". Isabelle instantly starts crying and yelling "Mommy!" and with smiles through the heartache, we tell her we will see her in a little bit after Dr. Munoz fixes her eye. (Note: I am crying as I type this) As Joel and Isabelle disappear around the corner and the sound of her cry fades away, I loose it. The floodgates opened and I just stood there bawling. Michael hugs me and says, "Welcome to my first day of preschool with her." Nurse Christina comes over and hugs too me saying its alright to cry. She continues saying that we should be poster parents for this ward and she wishes that everyone could do as good of a job as we did. Whether or not she tells all of the parents that, I don't care. It was said at the perfect time and was wonderful to hear.

And now we wait...Michael and I are both updating our Facebook statuses, through tears I am uploading these pics and texting people who are wondering what is happening now. I head outside the waiting room and call Mom and Dad. I couldn't believe how much it hurt! Both times I was telling the story of what all happened up until that moment, I cried. I came back into the waiting room and Michael hands me a vial of eye drops and tells me that its done, Isabelle is doing fine and as soon as she comes all the way alert, we can go in and see her. Music to my ears!! I started packing up all of our belongings once again and as I was putting the last few things away, Nurse Christina pops her head out through the door saying, "She is ready to see her Mom and Dad". As we went through the door, it was almost a knock down race between Michael and I to see who could get back to her bed first! We pulled back the curtain to see a very drowsy, sad and scared little munchkin laying in the bed. Michael went and picked her up, wrapped her blanket from home around her and snuggled with her, standing there smiling from ear to ear.

Nurse Christina let her take a doctor hat home
We were able to leave once the anesthetic wore off which was about 45 minutes later. Upon preparing for our departure, Nurse Christina came over and took Isabelle's IV out of her foot, gave her a doctor's hat and of course, a sticker. I carried her out to the car where we thought she would be so out of it that she would fall asleep on the ride home but didn't. We talked about what had just happened and how we will have to go back to see Dr. Munoz for a check up in a little while. When we got home, Poppy and Grandmama were waiting in the house to see her with a new addition to her stuffed animal family; Tutu Bear. She was running around like she would be every other day but really needed the 3 hour nap she took. So far so good...let's hope it worked!

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and support. We truly believe that helped us through it all.

POST SURGERY VIDEO OUT TAKES (gotta love the new iPhone)

"Want some?"-Since no liquids had been consumed since 7:30pm the night before surgery, apple juice was a very welcomed offer when Nurse Christina brought it over to Isabelle. The sharing side of Isabelle, we guess or it was the drugs that hadn't worn off yet, thinks that maybe she felt that the cup of apple juice was big enough for all three of us to enjoy.



"The Boo-Boo"-She notices all of her "boo-boo's" and after looking at the ones on her hand then showing us the IV in her foot, she was done....back to cuddling with Mommy.