Happy Father's Day

See more photos from our fun morning at Brewer Park here.

Eyes: before and after

Pre- and post-op photos. The one on the bottom was taken this morning. I can tell that he's still not using his eyes together, so the left one still drifts a little bit, but as you can see from these pictures, the surgery made a big improvement.

Block party

Today we found ourselves in the middle of "The Main Event," a neighbourhood-wide yard sale with a party tacked on at the end. The annual neighborhood yard sale concept seems to be big in Ottawa. A few weeks ago the Glebe hosted one, and I've seen signs for others. Yard sales really aren't my thing, but it was fun to walk around today and chat with the people trying to pawn off their old junk on others (see, I told you yard sales aren't my thing). The party was a good time because there was a team of giant horses and free wagon rides. Given Henry's current obsession with all things farm, the wagon ride was a big hit. We went twice, and watched the horses trot by our house several times after that.

In the meantime, we're getting ready for our big trip to France! Yes, Henry is coming with. We have no idea what to expect in traveling to a foreign country with a two year-old, but we do have a general sense of what Henry can so tolerate in a day, so we're setting our expectations low when it comes to sightseeing. I do have high expectations for wine and cheese consumption, however, since even in the worst-case toddler scenario we can still enjoy those goodies in the hotel room. Anything else we do is a bonus, as far as I'm concerned. I won't be blogging while we're away, but I'll post a full report when we get back.

Oh yes--Henry's eyes. The blood's cleared up and they look good. Definitely a huge improvement. I'm trying to get a good picture to post of the "after", but it's hard to catch him standing still these days!

Eye update: Thumbs up from the doctor

The ophthalmologist is pleased with Henry's new eye alignment. He still has a lot of blood in his eyeballs and some mild swelling around his eyelids, so I find it difficult to tell how well-centered they are. But they do look at least a bit better. I haven't seen any of the dramatic eye turns he used to have all the time when he tried to focus. So, things are looking good. Well, not literally looking good. Bloody eyeballs are a tad disturbing, after all. Once they clear up, I'll post a picture.

Our day at the hospital

I'm happy to report that everything went smoothly with Henry's surgery. We were at CHEO for about 5 hours, and the whole thing on schedule, with plenty of communication along the way. Tom and I were very surprised by how compliant Henry was throughout the pre-op routine, but the staff are pros who know how to handle kids. The nurse taking his vitals bribed him with Bob The Builder and Blue's Clues stickers (as soon as she asked him if he wanted stickers when he was done, he practically put the blood pressure cuff on himself). The waiting area was stocked with toys, and two volunteers set up a painting and colouring craft station to keep the kids busy. It was almost better than playgroup. Henry was given a "pre-med" sedative before we handed him off to the doctors, so he was mellow like jello when the took him away. So far, so good.

The surgery itself was quick and routine--about 45 minutes. The real fun began once Henry came out of surgery and was coming off the anesthesia. That was a good hour of him shrieking, thrashing around and tearing at his IV in a kind of half-awake, half-drugged state as Tom and I took turns wrangling him. Once he calmed down he slept for an hour or two in the recovery room, had his vitals checked one last time, and was quiet for the drive home. We spoiled him with lots of chocolate milk (the only thing he would consume today) and TV to keep him calm. He had another long nap in the afternoon, but by bedtime he was back to normal.

As for the results, it's too early to tell. Both eyes are quite bloodshot in the corners and he's blinking a lot, so I haven't been able to get a good look at how the eyes are aligning. We have a follow-up appointment with the ophthalmologist tomorrow, so we'll have a better assessment then.

Eye update

Henry is having strabismus surgery tomorrow at CHEO. The doctor will adjust the muscles in both eyes in order to straighten out Henry's vision. We're a little nervous about the whole procedure because surgery is inherently nerve-wracking, especially when your child is the patient. But I have confidence in the ophthalmologist and have been impressed so far with the hospital (we were there last week for pre-surgical screening). And I want to get it over with.

There's an even chance Henry will have to have the same procedure again some time in the future, because according to the doctor it is very difficult to get the adjustment right the first time. And once the physical correction is made, Henry will still have to learn how to use his eyes together in order to totally correct the problem. I'm not sure how we accomplish that, we'll worry about it later. For now, I just want things to go smoothly tomorrow.

New photo site

I opened a Flickr account to post more of my photos. I'll be adding more over the next few days, and (hopefully) updating it regularly. Check it out.