After hopping out of bed, Jackson's first words were, "My eye's all better." I wished I could have agreed and slipped back into bed; however, we trekked off to the doctor's office. He tried so hard to be brave, but he was cautious the whole time. When we had to undress him and leave him on the bed, he suddenly was very scared and wanted to "go back Mommy's house." Fortunately, we took Rico, his beloved penguin to keep him company. Jackson hung onto him the entire time.
After 20 minutes of being under anesthesia, Jackson's eye doctor came out and told us that the pressure was too high to not do surgery. The surgeon inserted a tube shunt (a small tube a millimeter in diameter) in his eye under his eye lid to help drain fluid. Supposedly, this procedure is very successful in children to bring down high pressure. The rest of the surgery took another hour and a half to complete.
Poor Jackson was furious when he woke up with an eye shield over his eye. He just wanted to take it off. The nurse gave a shield to Rico, too, to help Jackson cope. We were able to teach Jackson how NOT to touch his eye and shield by using Rico. Overall, Jackson was very, very brave. He hardly cried, and he has been very good today. He is on some pretty strong pain medicine, and although we have to force it on him, we know that it's helping him stay happy and pain-free. You can see that he remains happy in this picture.
We see the surgeon tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. to take off the shield and check the eye. If everything works the way it's supposed to, then Jackson may not need eye drops again for his right eye after it heals.
Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. We could tell that we've been strengthened through your strength, and we know that this is best for Jackson. We will get through it.
Oh, and thanks to Uncle Ken and (soon-to-be) Aunt Aimee for the giant "Daddy" penguin and balloons.
I hope everything goes smoothly and well. I'll keep your family in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteThat picture with the penguin is too cute!
ReplyDeleteWhat a brave little Jackson. Children are really amazing and Jackson proved it with doing such a good job to cope with such a difficult to understand situation. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with you guys.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear what you find out, I hope it all went as well as planned.
ReplyDeleteThat's so cute his penguin got a patch too, great idea!
What a trooper Jackson is. I'm sure you are proud of him; the picture of him and Rico (LOVE Rico's eye-patch; great idea!) is just adorable!
ReplyDeleteThis is so darling. It is good to have friends who know just what you need. ;)
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