Procedure

Violet had her tear duct probe procedure today, as all of you who kept up with the blog this morning know. I was posting from my phone, so I kept the words to a minimum. But now that I'm home and at the computer, I can give you all the play by play.

Let me say first that it was a bit of drama even getting to this point. When Violet was born, she had clogged tear ducts. Then one cleared up. Then we scheduled surgery for the other one. Then I thought it cleared up too. So a week before the surgery, I canceled. Naturally, as soon as I canceled, her eye started tearing up again. So yesterday, I called the surgical coordinated (aka: miracle worker) and begged to be put back in our slot. Strings were pulled, favors were called in, and we were booked for 9 a.m. today.

My favorite title.

We had to be at Children's Healthcare at 7:30 in the morning. Violet wasn't allowed food, drink or "nak" before she had the procedure done, and of everything, this is what had me worried the most! You guys know how much Violet loves her snacks. We waited until the last minute and then threw her in the car in her pj's, hoping for the best.

Let me say, Childrens has it going on. The waiting room was nuts with families and kids, but Violet seemed happy enough playing with all the new toys. Then we were escorted to the pre-op area and she got to put on her snazzy gown. I wish I could have accidentally taken it home, she looked so cute in it! Alas, by this point in the game, hunger was setting in big time and we were seeing the "more" sign a lot. Good thing everything was running on time.

Hanging out in pre-op.

We check ID.

The waiting game.

Finally it was show time. I carried her back to the surgical room and my friend immediately knew the jig was up. They put the mask on and Violet cried for about ten seconds before falling asleep with her mouth wide open, mid-wail. Poor thing. It was a little rough on me, not going to lie. But the nurses were fabulous.

The surgeon didn't lie when he told us at our consultation that the procedure would take longer to explain than it would to perform. I went back to pre-op to get Matt, we were escorted to Violet's recovery room, and the nurse pointed out the free coffee. Matt went to get some and the surgeon showed up with "it went perfectly". Not two minutes later, Violet was wheeled in, all tiny in her giant hospital bed. She slept for another five or ten minutes and then woke up, demanding juice and her nak'.

Waiting for Violet.

World's best nap.

Homeward bound.

And that was that! We were out the doors by 9:20. She acted completely herself all day (I had optimistically brought school work home in case she was sleepy all day, but nope). However, her eye has been tearing up like crazy too. So bad that I actually called Childrens to tell them that the procedure didn't work, I wanted a do-over. Or at least a refund. The very nice nurse reassured me this is normal and to give it a day, so I'm withholding judgment for the time being. We shall see. I will say, it was definitely an easy experience. There were a lot of other kids in the waiting area that seemed to have more serious problems, so I'm glad ours is so minor. However, I'd like it to work. So... we'll see what happens tomorrow.