Tear Duct Surgery

Last Tuesday, 11/2, we took Jillien to Texas Children's for surgery on her right eye's blocked tear duct.

The back story is that she had both tear ducts clogged for the first 3-4 months of life and then all of the sudden the left one randomly cleared on its own. The right one, however, refused to join that destiny and we continuously cleaned gunk (or "sleepy" as I call it) from around her eye. We massaged it, did a round of eye drops and waited. Nothing happened.

Finally, we got the recommendation to see a specialist and she wanted us to try the in-office procedure before having to head into a surgery. We came back 2 days after our initial appointment with this ophthalmologist to do the procedure. THAT was pure torture. They swaddled Jillien's arms and held her down while trying to poke a small probe into the tear duct. She was a screaming mess and I don't think I've ever felt so helpless. I clenched Stephen's hand so tight and cried a river. The worst part was that the procedure wasn't successful. The doctor discovered that her opening to the tear duct was so small that there was no way for her to get the probe in with Jillien awake and moving.

We scheduled the surgery. As the month passed by, waiting for the surgery, her eye seemed to improve to where there was less gunk but there were still water welling up in her eyes. The day of the surgery we had them do a test to see if the actual drainage had improved and it hadn't so we went ahead with the plan. They took her back from us and she initially cried as the sweet nurse carried her back but then she realized all of these blue hat people were surrounded her and became enthralled.

They put her under anesthesia and did the procedure in 15-20 minutes. All-in-all we were only separated from her for about 30 minutes. The doctor came and told us all went well and that her passageway down the duct was very narrow. We now know that while there may have been an obstruction earlier, that side also just seems to be smaller and more narrow than usual. This surgery involved placing and leaving a tube through the duct in hopes of stretching it out.

We were taken into the recovery area so we would be there when she woke up. She was a tired girl after missing her morning nap and waking up early to nurse so she wasn't in a hurry! She eventually heard my voice and stirred. That was probably the worst part for me... she was groggy and floppy and loopy and every other word that would indicate she was just 'out of it.' I didn't like seeing her like that and once we calmed her some, I nursed her as she had to drink something before we could be released.

She was tired but less 'all over the place' and managed to keep her milk down so we were discharged about 5 hours after our initial arrival. The trip home she slept and thankfully still kept all fluids down, even though Mommy was right beside her with the towel and vomit bag they provided, just in case!

That day she just slept and snuggled. Slept and snuggled. Ate a handful of cheerios, drank some water, then slept and snuggled. She did eat a pretty decent dinner, although at one point I thought we were going to see it all come up again. It didn't (YAY!) and she devoured the last half of her fruit without missing a beat.

Fast forward to today (a week after surgery) and we are doing eye drops (that cost us more than the surgery did, by the way!). Other than having to put eye drops in, you would never know anything had happened. We go back in a month or two to have the tube removed. We have still seen tears well up in that eye so we are curious to see what progress is made once the tube is removed. The doctor prepared us to understand that her right eye may just always have a bit of an issue but at least we know nothing will be blocked or have to be addressed in the future. It may just be a minor nuisance.

I am including some pictures in this 'way-too-much-information' post of Jillien playing in the waiting area and of her snuggled with Mommy and her monkey later in the day. Thanks for your prayers for our sweet girl and her worried parents that day!