Exotropia Surgery

Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and have no medical background. I am just writing based on my experiences and occasionally I may get things wrong.


I decided to write this part as honest as possible including all the emotions that we experienced so that you may have an idea of what we went through, but keep in mind your experience may be completely different.

We scheduled a day in early October for surgery and started prepping not only Isa for it but also ourselves, Jon and I.  Jon made arrangements so that he could take a few days off in order to travel back home for the surgery. Isa, Max, and I traveled a few days earlier than Jon.  This allowed the kids to spend some time with the family and also Isa had to get clearance from her pediatrician for the surgery.  Basically it was a physical to confirm that her heart and lungs were healthy for anesthesia.  The appointment went smoothly. 

Isa was very happy to be home as she had been home sick and missing her grandparents, her aunt, and uncles.  Although Isa said she was ready and even excited at times about the surgery she too was nervous.  She was almost five years old and understood the reason for doing the surgery as she did not like having double vision. 

The night before surgery my husband drove in and we all went to Chilli's, Isa's favorite restaurant at the time  (her current favorite is IHOP) to take her mind off of it.  We also beforehand took her to Build-a-Bear so that she could make a stuffed buddy to take to surgery with her.  We were told that we could bring a favorite cup for her to drink from and a stuffed animal to join her during surgery also that she could not eat anything past midnight.

After some nervousness that nigh, Isa finally feel asleep.  It is amazing how a small child can take so much in!!! As for Jon and myself that was another thing, I don't think either one of us slept very much.  Finally the morning had arrived and our caravan (everyone wanted to be there to support Isa, Jon, and I) started making our way to the surgical center. 

We checked in and then headed over to the children's waiting room filled with toys, books, and decorated with beautiful quilts.  We debated whether or not to bring Max with us but Isa insisted she wanted him there along with everyone else that is close to her. We waited maybe half an hour before we were called and all of a sudden Isa's nerves kicked in big time.  She started crying and yes even some yelling that she didn't want to have surgery.

The initial nurse we got wasn't very friendly or understanding of Isa's feelings. She very rudely insisted that Isa calm down and get dressed into the hospital gown.  As you can imagine all of Isa's emotions made Jon and I even more uneasy and having to forcefully put on the gown was a toughie.  Luckily another nurse came in and took over, she offered Isa a coloring book about surgery and a bunch of those stickers that you get when you go to the doctor's office, all princess ones which calmed Isa right down. 

Once Isa was calm, it made everything much easier for us.  We waited a few minutes and then Dr. S came in to say hi and let us know the anaesthesiologist would be coming over to talk with us.  He followed shortly and explained to us that they were going to take her to the O.R. and there they would be giving her a fruit flavored or fruit smelling gas mask to make her fall asleep.  At that time they would do the IV, blood work, and of course the general anesthesia.  Isa heard everything of course and got a little nervous again.  A few minutes later and they were back to take our precious baby.  I did my best not to cry in front of Isa, but it was extremely hard to do.  I was extremely scared of the anesthesia.  Some how Jon and I kept it together and they explained to Isa that she was going to the O.R. and that her stuffed dog, Brownie would be going with her to take care of her.  She started fearfully crying because she didn't quite understand.  Jon and I walked away with our hearts in our hands.

We waited in the waiting room for what seemed forever but in reality took probably about an hour and a half.  Jon and I decided that we wanted to wait in the general waiting room until we were able to pull ourselves together again before we faced Max and the rest of our family in the children's waiting room.

Finally, Dr. S came out to tell us that Isa's surgery was done and everything looked good.  He also mentioned that Isa was a feisty little girl because she was punching and yelling at the nurses in the recovery area (a possible reaction from the anesthesia since she was confused).  It was then that we heard Isa screaming and admittedly I felt very relieved to hear that my baby was OK.  We waited about 5 minutes before they allowed Jon and I into the recovery area. 

In the recovery area we found our sweet baby girl curled up in a ball sniffling with her eyes closed and shiny as if she had Vaseline on them.  She was comforted by the sound of our voice but was still very disoriented. The nurse informed us that Isa needed to drink water before leaving the surgical center and that her IV still needed to taken out.  I wish that they had been able to take it out while she was still asleep so that she wouldn't have to undergo that, but I guess that is just asking for too much!

Fortunately Isa had a spectacular recovery room nurse that was very patient and kind.  It was kind of difficult to provide comfort to her since she was on the hospital bed still with her IV in and couldn't really be moved.  The nurse patiently helped Isa calm down while she removed the IV in her hand. Within about forty minutes or so after we finally convinced her to take a drink she was discharged. 

She kept her eyes closed on the way out to the car and we already had the car ready with black out towels in the back for her.  It was about half an hour drive back home and within 15 minutes or so she felt nauseous and threw up very slightly.  After that she fell back asleep and when we brought her into the house she woke up and felt very panicked because she couldn't see very well, she was experiencing blurry vision from surgery.  She kept screaming, "I can't see, I can't see, it hurts!" It was heart breaking to hear her say that but we knew that things were going to get better because of the surgery.  It was frightening to her because although we had already explained it to her, what can be expected from a four year old child? It was the first time she opened her eyes and just felt very scared and some slight pain. After a while of calming her down she took a VERY long nap, something she RARELY does even for half an hour!

Upon waking up it was like nothing had ever happened!!! The only signs of surgery were her bloodshot eyes but no symptoms that she could physically feel.  We also made sure to cover the mirrors that were at her eye level because she normally panics at the slight sight of blood and we didn't want her to see her bloody eyes and panic. I do have to mention that in some of my research and the doctors post surgery what to expect paper, we expected her eyes would be far worse. However, her eyes were only moderatley boodshot and mostly just on the outer sides of her eyes.

We were so relieved that she seemed absolutely fine, she required no Tylenol or pain medication whatsoever.  The only thing that we realized was when she turned her eyes all way to her sides it did feel as if she was pulling her eyes and it was uncomfortable not necessarily painful.  This was a side effect that the doctor had explained but he said it posed no danger for her to do it.  We had prefilled a prescription for an eye ointment that had to be given to her once in both eyes in the morning and once in the eveining. We initially thought it was going to be a nightmare to have to do this for a few weeks but surprisingly after a few days it wasn't bad since it posed no pain to her and was an ointment as opposed to a liquid eye drop. 

The next day we had an appointment with Dr. S to check to see how things were.  Isa was just fine that morning and again the only sign of any surgery was the bloodshot eyes and a bit of light sensitivity while outside.  Dr. S gave us wonderful news that as of that moment everything seemed succesful and we could safely travel back out to our temporary home the very next day!