the cataract is gone!

Daniel was actually discharged before 11, but between trying to meet the needs of one overtired little girl and one post-surgery big boy, this is the first time I've gotten on the internet since this morning.  I'm happy to report that the surgery was a success.  The doctor had told us at our first consultation that the outer edges of Daniel's cataract were adhered to his eye capsule around the lens, and that there was a possibility the capsule would tear when the cataract came out, requiring some extra steps to complete the surgery neatly and requiring the new lens implant to be placed in front of the capsule rather than replacing the cataracted lens in its place inside the capsule.  There was a very tiny tear, but it did not become big enough to necessitate the extra surgical procedures, and the lens implant was able to be placed in its optimum position.  So the doctor was pleased with the outcome.  He said he had to leave just a little bit of the edges of the cataract where they were, but he can remove them non-invasively with a laser later on.  Daniel has gotten a chance to look through his "new" eye once already, when the doctor had to adjust the patch.  Although it was extremely dilated at the time, he noted that he can see better than before.  So, yay!!

I thought Daniel handled the surgery very well.  He didn't seem anxious or grumpy this morning, and took all of the preparations in stride.  His only difficult moment pre-surgery was when a nurse showed up with an IV.  I had told him earlier that I thought he would have one, but he was really hoping he would not have to.  So he looked pretty unhappy when it appeared, but he cooperated with the stick.  For some reason he bled quite a bit from that needle, making a little puddle on his arm and up into his IV tube.  I do fine with nosebleeds and scraped knees, but needles get me, and I started feeling nauseous and faint.  Meanwhile I'm trying to assimilate what one nurse is telling me about a form I have to sign, translate what another nurse wants to tell Daniel, and project an air of serene confidence.  Ha.  Oh, Daniel also had to endure a set of painful eyedrops during this prep time.  They put some medicine in his IV to make him relaxed, and he did get pretty groggy.  Then they wheeled him away.  He told me later that he remembers them putting the apparatus in his nose and mouth to administer general anesthesia.  It must have worked, because he doesn't remember anything else about the surgery.  Meanwhile, I sat in the second recovery room and read a book.  After less than an hour the doctor came and told me how the surgery had gone.  After another half an hour or so he came in and talked with me again a little bit.  He said he thought the nurses would call me to be with Daniel in the initial recovery room, but they didn't.  So after another while, Daniel was brought into the recovery room that I was in and asked to transfer to the bed there.  He was extremely groggy, and complaining greatly of the cold in the room (it was very cold!) and that his arm (the one with the IV) hurt.  It undoubtedly did not help that he kept curling up his hurt arm, with the needle still in it!  He also kept trying to curl up on his left side, burying his just-operated-on eye into the pillow.  He groaned and mumbled and kept shifting his position, but didn't seem to be able to get comfortable.  He was not thrilled about drinking the gatorade that they brought him, especially since it was ice-cold and he was already cold.  Two extra blankets, a jacket, and about twenty minutes later, Daniel had revived enough to stay on his right side and complain more verbally.  He drank some gatorade, asked some questions and was interested in my report of what the doctor had said.  I made a couple of calls on the cellphone (most especially to Tim) to report on the success of the operation.  Then Daniel called his foster mother in China to tell her about it (much more pleasant for both of us than another twenty minutes of him complaining!).  Daniel really, really, really wanted that IV out, but he was supposed to pee first (I guess to make sure that he didn't need any more of the liquid that he was getting via IV?) and despite now copious quantities of gatorade, he kept assuring me that he didn't need to go to the bathroom.  So we were in that recovery room for quite a long time.  Finally, when he was obviously wide awake and I reported to the nurse that his stomach and head felt fine, she took pity on him and went ahead and took the IV out.  Within a few minutes he was sitting up and asking about his shoes, and then went straight to the bathroom and relieved himself of the gatorade.  So they discharged us, we got another brief visit with the doctor, and then someone brought Daniel downstairs in a wheelchair (which he thought at first he was expected to push himself!) and Tim and Esther met us and brought us home.  Daniel continues to not feel nauseous or dizzy and to not have any pain in his eye, but he has been tired and not very hungry.  We see the doctor again tomorrow and 9:30, and if everything looks good then, we are free to go (with activity restrictions, of course) for another two weeks.  So we still have two weeks of eyedrops, but I am very happy that this part of Daniel's cataract sage is behind us!  And oh, how I hope we all sleep better tonight than last night!