Lola's eye surgery

Today was a grueling day.  It was the day of Lola's surgery to have the cyst over her eye removed.  She has had the cyst since birth, and we have just been waiting on her to get a little bigger before we attempted a surgery--the risks decrease significantly after two years old.

So, after our little setback three weeks ago....today was the big day!

It was up at 5:30 to be on the road by 6. Lola's surgicenter was about 45 minutes away, and we had to be there by 6:45.  We had told her several times that we were taking her to the doctor and they were going to make her bump go away.

Daddy carrying her in....

....she was such a happy camper.

Snuggling with Daddy in the lobby while Mommy filled out some last minute paperwork

They took us back to our own room to do some pre-op stuff.

Lo was still a happy clam.

Checking out the blood pressure cuff....

....and showing Daddy the pulse oximeter.

Then for a moment...when the nurse bent down to check her...it was like she had 

a sense of what was coming and all of sudden became very serious.

The nurse couldn't get a good read through Lo's pj's, so we had to take them halfway off.

(Showing Daddy where the cuff was)

Then it was off to the bathroom to go potty one more time and 

put on the teeniest little gown (and slipper socks) I have ever seen!

Still so happy....she is just the best baby.

She did great up to this point. Our friends (our pastor/his wife) came to the surgicenter 

and spent the morning with us. They prayed with all of us, and then it was time for me to 

hand Lo over to the team. It was seemingly going well--and then Lo's face started to 

crumple and she lost it. The nurse carried her away to the OR, with both of us crying.

We expected to hear something after about 45 minutes...but after an hour an a half of waiting, I was starting to get nervous. Just as I was getting up to check on her, the surgeon came back and signaled that everything was all done.  He started to take us to her, but stopped so he could talk to us first--and he warned us before we saw her that it was worse than what he had thought.

Lo's cyst was much bigger and deeper than he thought it was going to be.  He had to cut through the muscle in her eye (the one that makes your eyes open and close) in order to get to the entire thing--only to find out that it had also adhered to the actual bone.  The procedure had to be done differently than planned, so that was why it took so much longer.  But in the end, she was okay--and that was all we cared about!

She looked beat up though. Poor Shane and I were not really prepared for how swollen and black and blue she was going to be. That part was really, really hard to see.

They kept reassuring us that most of her screaming was not from pain, but from the effects of the anesthesia.  I was trying to get a better look at the eye/bandage without making her mad, but it wasn't exactly working.  I quickly abandoned this and just went back to holding her and trying to calm her down, but even that wasn't seeming to make her feel any better. I felt....awful, at best.

 She cried like neither of us had ever heard before, and continued to cry once we left and got in the car.

She was very afraid, you could tell. She would absolutely not let go of my hand. Even when I thought she was asleep and removed it, she woke right up screaming until she got a hold of my hand again! 

I learned my lesson and just left it there while she napped. :)

 Got a picture of her looking actually peaceful while she slept.

And all moms breathed a sigh of relief. Whew.

When she woke up, she was so much better....literally seemed like a different child.

She even tried to smile for me!

It is the end of the day, and she is all cleaned up now. Her eye is still swollen shut (and is likely to be for a while) but she is in much better spirits. We actually took a long bike ride (she loved that) and a small walk. She loved swinging in her swing, too--but mostly, I have just held her today.

I'm okay with that. :)

I can't tell you how much I have appreciated all of the calls, texts, emails, and Facebook messages of friends and family letting me know that they are praying for little Lolee girl. We felt them today and she is doing as well as can be expected! I would appreciate it if you would keep her in your prayers, and I will keep everyone updated!