Thursday, April 18, 2013

Post Surgery Update

3 days post surgery
10 days post surgery
 
Lane had a second surgery on March 28, 2013 (4.5 years old). The method was the frontalis sling using fascia lata. As can be seen from the photos above, the surgery is being deemed successful at raising the lid so his vision is no longer obscured. In terms of the surgery itself, he was given general anesthesia and a local block to numb the area of the leg from which the fascia was harvested. The whole procedure took ~4 hours. When we got to him in the recovery area, he was still asleep. He slowly awoke, and wasn't too ornery as he came to awareness. His left eye was covered with a large bandage, as we knew it would be until the following day. His leg was sutured with a bandage as well. We stayed in the hospital an additional 1.5 hours, while he had some juice, goldfish, and popsicles. That night he was tired, but did not complain of any pain or discomfort. We carried him around due to the numbness and stiffness of his leg. We did give him Tylenol that night, and again the next morning, but nothing thereafter and he never had any pain whatsoever. The next morning we went back to the hospital to have the bandage over his eye removed. Upon removal, he was swollen, but not too badly, and had no bruising. We could not tell immediately if his lid was indeed raised due to the stitches (3 incision points over his brow) and swelling, but the doctor assured us that his looked as it should post-surgery and it should have a positive outcome in due time. They conducted a vision test on both eyes and his left eye's vision was equal to that of his right eye. We were given a topical antibiotic to place on his incision points and eye lids for the next ~10 days. Basically, we were told to wait and watch, and that it would take as long as 30 days to see the final result. That day, one day after surgery, his leg was still stiff so he limped a bit, but overall played and acted normally. His eye does not close completely when he is sleeping, but this has not been problematic in any way. He doesn't even notice. The stitches in his eye and leg are self-dissolving. We are now at 3 weeks post surgery, and the stitches in his eye have dissolved/fell out, and he has only one small scab left above his eye. The stitches in his leg are still present, and the tape covering them is just starting to fall off. In summary, so far so good! We are thankful!