surgery!

Eli had to have eye surgery today! He had a blocked tear duct that had caused a few infections and persisted beyond his first birthday, which 99% of the time means it won't resolve spontaneously. We went to see an Occulal Plastics Eye Specialist at UCLA two weeks ago and he recommended surgery. They got us scheduled quickly, which was nice. Dan goes back to school soon and we wanted to get it done before then. So we checked in at UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute at 7AM this morning. Eli enjoyed playing in the waiting room. Once we were taken back, they put his gown on and then gave him an oral sedative. The doctor came and talked to us and just reviewed the surgery again. Then they took him back. I have to admit, I shed a few tears as I watched him disappear down the OR hallway. We sat and waited for a little bit and then I headed to the cafeteria with my mom and brother. By the time I was coming out of the elevator, he was out of surgery! So it was nice and quick. The doctor said it went great and was super simple and said he has about a 90% chance of this curing the problem permanently. We went to see him and he was pretty upset. Hungry (hadn't eaten since 6 last night and it was 9:15) and in pain. He became so inconsolable and seemed to be in so much pain that they gave him some oral pain meds and then let him have some juice. After that, and after getting his IV taken out, he was MUCH happier. Since he kept his juice down and was calmer, they let him go home and we were home by 10:45! So all in all not too bad. He slept quite a bit today and went to bed early. But by the end of the day he was back to his normal, happy self.

Here he is in the waiting room with the bear they gave him. Too cute.

and here he is waiting to head into surgery. oh, could he BE any cuter?!? SERIOUSLY? I love this little guy so much it hurts me!


His eye is so much better already. No more excess tearing, and no more gooping and oozing. So that's so nice!