In the spirit of flipping completeley the freak out over Chip’s cataract surgery tomorrow, I have compiled a list of “Pros” for me to remember.
- He’ll be able to see out of his right eye. (OK, this is probably the biggest pro.)
- The surgery will be done by an expert. That’s his smiling face over there —->
- Chip will stop rubbing his right eye trying to get the cataract out himself.
- Normal vision development will no longer be affected.
- In the scope of bad “things” that can happen to your child, being born with an operable cataract while living 30 minutes away from a renowned specialist is low on the scale.
- The worst part for me will be waiting for the procedure to be over. The worst part for Chip will be having a freaking eye protector glued over his eye for 24 hours. Neither of those are the end of the world.
- I’ll get to learn about getting a toddler to keep his glasses on. (OK, not so much of a pro, but I’m trying to get myself psyched up about it!)
So, if you don’t hear from me tomorrow I’m just busy driving people around, waiting around, more driving, and then praying that everyone just goes to bed so I can lie on the floor and stare up at the ceiling in silence. Wish me luck ;)
I know that has to be hard. I can’t stand to watch my kids get vaccinations. I’ll be thinking of you tomorrow and I know it will go smoothly. That guy looks pretty competent.
I’m sure everything will go well. I will also be thinking of you tomorrow.
I would be totally freaked out! Sounds like you’re being very level-headed, though. Good luck with the surgery!
You have a great attitude! Best of luck to Chip :)
Thanks for all the nice words, everyone. I’m just digging myself out today so I’m pretty tardy responding!
Hi Jane;
I just found your blog. My son was born with a cataract, too, and had surgery in December. He has been patching for 6 weeks now and today has a red mark where the patch was…I think he is allergic to the adhesive!
Just a question for you….do you use a fabric patch (if so, where did you find it?) or an adhesive one. Have you experienced this redness, and if so what did you do about it?
I hope you don’t mind these questions. I don’t know any other moms who have had to patch, nonetheless had a catarct.
Thanks,
Trish
Hi Trish,
Sorry to hear about your son’s cataract, but I’m glad to hear the surgery went well. Sounds like he either has an allergy or just a plain-old reaction to the pulling-off of the patch.
You don’t say how old he is, but if he’s not taking the patch off (like if you don’t have to use the super-sticky patches) try the NextCare ones. That adhesive is very light and stopped the red irritation on my son.
Since the surgery, we stopped patching because Chip wouldn’t leave it on for more than a second. Before that, we had been using ‘pedi-wraps’
http://blog.erikajurney.com/2006/07/26/how-to-eye-patch-a-grabby-toddler/
But he’s too old for that now, and he needs to patch for much longer every day. I didn’t want to be restraining him all the time. So now we use some eye drops.
http://blog.erikajurney.com/2007/01/12/hello-2-year-old-let-me-explain-the-long-term-benefits-so-then-of-course-youll-agree-to-go-along-what/
It works well, and after the initial crying every morning he’s fine. It helps that he gets 2 Skittles with his drops — and we are not a candy family, so it is a big treat for him.
For us the fabric patches wouldn’t have worked because Chip would have taken them off instantly. We did get some cute adhesive patches online — Ortopad I believe. They have cute patterns, and maybe your son would enjoy picking the one he gets to use. But like I said, there was no way it was going to work for us. Chip is WAY WAY WAY too stubborn. Hmmm, I wonder where he gets that from!
Good luck with the patching, and please let me know if you have any more questions!