Yoavi vs the Ptosis Surgery

Shavua Tov, everyone! May this be a great week for you! It's almost 2014 and I'm still trying to figure out where December 2013 went.

Last Monday was Yoav's eye surgery. He had the frontalis sling procedure done with Dr. Leemor Rotberg. She's a phenomenal pediatric ophthalmologist and we highly recommend her! We're lucky that Yo's pediatrician follows up with her and adds the information to his chart. We're also lucky that Yo's uncle Danny is best buds with Yo's pediatrician. We could discuss after-care with them both and know they'd receive information about Yo's procedure from Dr. Rotberg.

I took some time to blog about it because I needed to gather some pictures and my sanity. It's been a rough week. As the days go by, I can see him becoming more uncomfortable with the silicon rod in his eye but I think, over time, it'll get easier for him. To add insult to injury, he's teething - so I can't really tell if he's unhappy because of his eye or because of his teeth.

For a few days, Yo was waking up crying and we couldn't tell if it was his teeth or his eyes - we guessed his eyes because he would rub them and keep crying. I figured out that it's the ointment we put in his eyes while he sleeps. Some ointments are 80+% white petroleum and 20% mineral oil. Others contain 57% white petroleum and 43% mineral oil. The more petroleum in the ointment, the harder it was on his eye. We're currently using the Target brand of ointment for nightime relief. It's the only one that doesn't make him scream and cry. Go figure.

Normally, after surgery, kids wake up groggy and foggy but they take quite a few naps during the day. Not this kid. He wanted to stay awake and hang out with the kind relatives that came for a visit. He was back to his normal self the following day - just like the doctor said he would be. I kinda miss the kid from post-surgery. He was cuddly and quiet. Normal Yoav is awesome...until he decides to be a holy terror.

We're glad we did the surgery. We can already see a difference in the way he moves around. Where he was walking last Sunday, he's now running because he can see. Where he was tilting his head back to see the TV or read a book, now he looks straight forward. Where he used to let the dogs come to him, now he runs after them ... because he can see them. Poor dogs.

Here are some before pictures of Yoav:

And here are some after photos:

Over time, it'll get better. Right now, when he looks up or he gets surprised, one eye is REALLY surprised while the other is just kind of surprised. Eventually, that'll relax.

We'll keep you posted with his follow ups and his progress. We won't know how successful the surgery was until a few months from now. Until then, just enjoy his cuteness.