Eye Surgery

Even though patching did not work, Rhys sure looked like the coolest pirate ever for a time.

After no success with 2 attempts of months of eye patching, and visiting two different eye doctors, Rhys underwent bilateral strabismis outpatient surgery on his eyes Wednesday. Both Neal and I were there to help him come out of anesthesia without rubbing his face. He was quite uncomfortable and agitated at first and at periods throughout the day but we worked on staying calm for longer and longer periods. Pretty hard on a mama to see her son crying pink tears.

The next day he opened his eyes a lot more and his anxiety quickly lessened as he realized his eyes were feeling better and the drops and ointments really were benefiting him instead of hurting him. We took it easy by trying things slowly throughout the morning--reading a few pages to see how it went, going for a short walk outside to see if the light still bugged him, etc. By early afternoon he was much more himself and we went to a follow up appointment with the surgeon. She measured and found that it all looked good and Rhys was quite happy with how things were progressing.

He went back to school for a trial day today, Friday, with orders for no PE or recess play for a week. I am happy to be only 3 minutes away from my boy. We preemptively had Rhys' teacher discuss the upcoming surgery and the resulting temporary change in appearance (red whites of the eye, crossed-eyed) in hopes to avoid teasing and increase understanding and compassion. But they are second graders so we'll see.

Neal has had his boss in town and has been having dinners with him and Neal's been preparing for the PTA's silent auction this week.  We are happy that Saturday is open and he can spend some more time with his son and family.

Thanks for help from Opa, in caring for Rhys while we went to a short school meeting, and for the calls to see how Rhys has been doing from family. We appreciate the love and support.

Fairfield State Park Camping

Thanks to Good Friday, we were able to get two nights of camping in before making our way home to prepare for Easter Sunday. Hiking, swimming, and s'mores.

Tyler using sticks to remove spider webs from our path

 

Somewhere in there is a very happy man

Pink Evening Primrose was everywhere on our trip there

Made it home safe and sound Saturday afternoon. Sunday, Keri spoke in church on Christ's resurrection during sacrament meeting and we had Oma and Opa over for an early dinner. Thanks to them for some awesome chocolate booty. We finished our Easter by attending a Easter choir performance at one of our local church buildings. Great ending to a great weekend!

Bluebonnet Trail in Ennis, TX

Spontaneously took off to Ennis to see the bluebonnets instead of our annual Eggstravaganza at city hall this year. Glad we did! It was gorgeous! Enjoyed photos, a nature walk, festival, and lunch at the Wildflower Cafe.

Grandma and Grandpa

My dad, Dennis, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, stage 3 back in the fall when they spotted something odd when going in to remove his gall bladder for a planned surgery. He chose to do naturopathic treatments after the surgical removal of the cancer and then went back and forth with the idea of doing chemo for months, finally doing a 3 month trial of chemo starting at the new year. His most recent scans came back clear of cancer and he has decided to stop chemo and continue with a modified naturopathic treatment for some time. He gets scanned again in 3 months.

In the meantime, my mom, a diabetic we thought would have never made it this far had a serious period of low blood sugar in which my father did not act in her best interest, and she ended up in the hospital with stroke like symptoms (aphasia) but nothing indicating a stroke on the brain scans.  Within a week her speech had return to normal.

It has been kind of crazy. Partially because I am not there to help out given the distance. Partially because, communication is not one of the strengths of my family, and partially because it is hard to determine how to enter the role of child as caregiver without worsening circumstances or relationships. It's a new era but not sure how to navigate it.

I feel it would be best to have plans A, B, and C depending on which parent dies or becomes totally dependent first but they would also have to agree with said plans as they are able to make their own decisions right now. Hmmm.  Been thinking. Not sure where to go next.