Summer's Surgery

I thought I would go ahead and update on how Summer's eye surgery went while they are napping.

(**EDITED TO ADD: If you are new to my blog, and want to know why Summer had to have eye surgery, please read this post.**)

My mom went with me to help with Camryn since Joe needed to work and I didn't want to go by myself. We got to the hospital around 7:30am., checked in, and were taken right back to the little curtained rooms where you prep for surgery. I signed some things, Summer put on her "dress", and after talking to the doctor and nurses, and receiving some meds that made her a bit out of it, she went back to the OR around 8:45. This time she went back with the nurse willingly. Last time, back in November, she screamed as they carried her away. I was very happy that didn't happen this time.

It was only 30-40 minutes when they wheeled her back in. She wasn't too happy, which is normal coming out of anesthesia. The doctor came in and said it went very well. They got all of her stitches out without any problems. They looked around inside her eye and he said everything was healing just fine. Also, she doesn't have to wear an eye patch, and we only have to give her one kind of eye drop three times a day for three days. Huge difference from last time... back then we had to give her three different kinds of drops six times a day for weeks.

Now going forward... She will go in to see the doctor in 4 weeks. At that point he will have a better idea of if and when she will need glasses. We were under the impression by her past doctor that she would definitely need them but this doctor said it depends on how bad her astigmatism is. Also after four weeks we will begin putting an eye patch on her good eye for an hour or so every day to strengthen the injured eye. That is necessary for her vision to stay strong, and to take care of her left eye in case some day something happens to her right eye.

Summer was very cooperative with the nurses, and was very brave. She got to take her doll to the OR with her. Doll had to get hospital bracelets just like Summer.




Camryn was really happy when we told her she could eat in the waiting room.

We were released from the hospital around 11:30. We dropped her eye drop prescription off and headed home. Summer did throw up in the car from the anesthesia. The poor thing... she must have inherited my horrible tolerance. I puked on the operating table when I was having my c-section with Camryn.

Finally a smile once we got home!


When we got home and Summer was cleaned up and in some comfy pajamas, she had a little water and some cheerios. She's done fine keeping those down. I was hoping they would sleep for awhile since they got up a lot earlier than usual, but they're in there talking and yelling so I'd better go make lunch.

Happy Election Day

Summer had an appointment with the Ophthalmologist this morning at 8:30. We got up bright and early at 7:00, got ready, and my mom came over to go with me. We got there right on time and were seen pretty quickly. The nurse looked her over, and then the resident doctor that had seen her at the hospital came in. He did a quick exam, and then told us that it looks like the abrasion was healing. I felt relieved as he got up and told us the doctor would be in to look at her in a minute. The doctor came in and shined a light in her eyes. The he pulled the exam machine over and convinced her to put her chin on the chin rest so he could see what was going on close up. She cooperated, amazingly, after the promise of a sucker, and after he was done, he said, "Well, the injury is worse than we thought." OMG. So apparently, the resident doesn't know what he's doing and didn't notice that SHE HAS A HOLE IN HER CORNEA. At the moment, her iris is stopping up the hole and preventing the leakage of fluids and entry of infection-causing bacteria. That could change at any moment, which means she needs surgery to repair the hole right away.


She had eaten a banana probably 5 minutes before he asked me if she had eaten anything. Because she had eaten, we have to wait 6 hours. They were able to schedule her for surgery at 4pm, and we have to be there at 2:30. The doctor that we saw is who will be performing the surgery. The good thing is that he is the head of Opthomology at the hospital and has been doing this for 12 years. He knows what he's doing, so I'm confident that she will be getting the best care possible.

We couldn't really get a straight answer as far as whether her vision quality in that eye is at risk. I guess that can't be answered until after the surgery.

We left the office, and I voted on the way home (yay!). I had called Joe and explained what was going on, and he was already home when we got here. We put Summer down for a nap (although she still hasn't fallen asleep) and ate some lunch. My mom just now left with Camryn. She's going to take care of her for us until we get back home later. The surgery is outpatient, so hopefully everything goes smoothly and we won't be at the hospital too long.

When I had gotten home, I found Joe in here calling vets, asking their prices for declawing. We're going to be doing that asap, and in the meantime, Jack is stuck in the laudry room. We can't take another chance. I hate the idea of declawing, it's just like cutting off the ends of your fingers. But at this point, it's neccessary.

Thank you all for your kind words. I wish this entry could have been about her healing perfectly, but instead I'm going to have to ask that you keep Summer in your thoughts. Keep your fingers crossed, pray, meditate, whatever it is that you do to connect you to a higher power. I'll update as soon as I can.