Surgery day - we made it through the trabeculectomy

We were super lucky in that the onsite hostel at Moorfields, the Ronald McDonald House, had space for us to stay. It was so helpful as we were completely wiped after Thursday's appointments and it would have been stressful for Aaron to make the long journey back that night only to have to repeat it again the next morning.

The volunteers at RMH were very kind and had a travel cot set up for Aaron so that he would be comfortable. Nice beds for mummy and daddy too. Aaron ate like a piggy overnight  so hopefully he got his strength up.

We tried our best to keep things 'normal' for Aaron in the morning, playing for a few hours and being silly until it was time for his last feed before surgery (no milk after 9:30 am). The last feed worked well with nap time so Adam and I took him for a walk to J+A Cafe in Clerkenwell before heading into the day center for noon.

Aaron was starving by the time we went in and not in the best mood. Stripping and weighing him did not please him either so he had a full on meltdown with plenty of raspberry blowing, poor kid. I'm sure he was wondering why we wouldn't feed him! Rocking and singing finally knocked him out (I hope everyone else on the floor enjoyed Rockabye Baby and Wind the Bobbin Up 20 times. I've been told in the past I have a singing voice like the seagull from Little Mermaid).

Meanwhile we had a visit from the surgeon to explain the procedure, which would kick off with an eye exam under anaesthesia to find out if there were any other issues. All being well the 360 degree trabeculectomy could proceed from there.

About 1:45 PM the nurse came in to give him a gentle sedative so that they could get the IV in and he went into the theatre about 2 pm. Adam went with him to hold him while they gave him the IV and he fell asleep.

No matter how good you know the surgeon is, the moment you hand over your baby is heart wrenching so we headed to the canteen for distraction.

We had to laugh at the radio station that was on in the cafe as it kept playing 'romance gone wrong' songs. Haha. We didn't linger long, one can only handle so much Michael Bolton even on a good day.

We didn't need to wait long once back upstairs and the surgeon came out for an update. Poor Adam had gone to the loo so I took copious notes accompanied with drawings (I'm sure the surgeon thinks I'm bonkers). Everything with the surgery went well! Hurrah! He was able to get all the way through the Schlemm's canals in both eyes, so a full 360 degree trabeculectomy, which isn't always easy as babies Aaron's age don't always have the canals properly formed. We are probably lucky he didn't get referred any earlier I suppose. All the prayers and good wishes worked as we couldn't hope for better news at this stage. 

The pressure in Aaron's eyes was already dropping and hopefully the corneas will clear enough in a few weeks that we can get a look at the optic nerve to assess its condition, although we've been told damage is still reversible at this age.

I got to go in and get Aaron once he woke up and bring him back to his room for a feed. He just wanted cuddles and a nap at first but soon had a marathon milk fest - that's our boy!

The surgeon came back in for a check before discharge and was happy with the condition of Aaron's eyes. The bandages and eye shields came off before we even left and could stay off as long as Aaron didn't rub. 

Even though it was late Friday afternoon/early evening, the nurses never rushed us and let us take as long as we needed to collect our things. The nurse who did our discharge even fed us, gave us juice and helped us out to the taxi with all our bags! Such wonderful people at the Richard Desmond Children's Eye Centre at Moorfields, we couldn't have asked for a more caring, professional team to look after our sweet baby.

All in all a good day and the best we could hope for this first critical leg in the journey.