It's funny how one little eye can cause so much trouble!

May 16th, Thursday morning we woke up bright and early, to be at Primary Children's Hospital by 10:00 a.m. to check Brodyn in for eye surgery. It didn't feel like we had to wait long, because they moved us through so quickly. this was particularly nice, since our nerves were on edge.
Dan and I had to wear name tags and wrist bands with Brodyn's name on them, so the hospital staff could identify us and keep us with the right child. There were many kids going through out-patient surgery, that day.

Brody was doing great, until the nurse asked him to change his clothes into these hospital gowns, I hadn't prepared him for this step. Being my first surgery I wasn't sure what was going to happen either. Brody got quite upset and started to cry. The nurse was taking his blood pressure and it spiked, she said..."he must be nervous." I felt so bad and worried for him. He was so upset with us for making him change his clothes that he wouldn't let me take his picture.
The nurse was pretty good, she came back into the room after he was changed, she saw how upset he was and she said to him..."Let's see your shirt, is it a cool one?" "Let's put it back on over them and then the Dr. can take it off again when he needs to!" He liked that idea and settled down a little. Because he was so nervous Dan and I decided to let the nurses give him a sedative to relax him a little. It worked wonders! It also helps to erase a little of what was going on so Brody isn't left with any traumatic memories.

The nurses brought us into the waiting room for surgery, and let Brodyn pick a little hospital buddy with it's own hospital gown. He was able to draw a face on it and give it some character. While he was coloring hair on top of it's head the sedative started to work and he stopped "mid-do" I asked him if he wanted me to finish it because he was feeling sleepy he said... "yes!" At this point he was getting 'loopy' and 'sleepy'. He was getting giggly and had slurred speech! All the pre-surgery worries gone!

The nurses had a little wagon ready to wheel him back into the surgery suite, he giggled the whole way...oblivious of what was happening! I on the other hand was so nervous I tried not to think too much about it. We stopped at the surgery doors and had to say goodbye, I gave him a kiss on the cheek and desperately wanted to stay with him the entire time. I am so grateful he was relaxed because if he was nervous and resistant I would have been a "closet" basket case!

The surgery started about 11:00 a.m. and by noon the Dr. came out and said everything went as planned and we would soon be able to see him. Only one of us could go back first. He was taken to the first post-op room, where a nurse monitored him as he came out of anesthesia. Dan and I rocked off to see who would be able to be there when he woke up, we both wanted to go. I won of course but later thought maybe I should have let Dan be the one to go back. It was hard to see him come out of anesthesia, he wanted to rub his eyes and he couldn't, so I had to hold them down. It was hard to know that as soon as he woke up, he would be in a little pain even with pain medicine. He was crying and wiggling around trying to wake up, I kept whispering in his ear that it was okay and that I was there and kept kissing him on the cheek. Fighting that frog in my throat. I did well and held it together for my 'little man.' My eyes watered a little throughout the day, and I kept fighting that frog in my throat but I didn't cry!

Coming out of anesthesia, it had been a long day even Dan was tired! Brody kept saying to me..."I can't wake up mom." I can only imagine how strange that would feel to a 5 yr old.

The nurse brought back apple juice, root beer slushies and fruit punch slushies, they were a big hit with Brody. He had to fast from bed time the night before until after the surgery, which is a very long time for a little tummy.

We had to keep switching out cold rags and laying them across his eyes. He was a little sore. Luckily the Lortab kicked in and he was a changed little man!

Brody named this little man "X-ee", he stayed with him the whole time!

Brodyn's recovery room. The reason Brody has this oximeter on his big toe, is because he was so ornery after the surgery he would not let the nurse keep it on his thumb, so she tried putting it on his big toe, but he kept kicking it off. It was important for it to stay on so the nurse wrapped it, so it wouldn't come off. She had some Dinosaur wrap that Brody liked so he allowed her to put the oximeter back on.

After about 2 hrs we were able to go home, Brody got a ride in this sweet wheelchair!Loving the root beer slushy! He did pretty well after surgery he threw-up in the car twice on the ride home. He said it was because Dad was driving crazy. We have drops that have to go in his eyes 3 x's a day, for a week which he does not like. I make faces after I drop the drops on his closed lids and ask him to tell me what face I am making, it takes awhile but curiosity wins out and he opens his eyes to see.