Squint Surgery Take 2 - One Month Later

I just don't feel like blogging. It is now nearly 3 months after Milord walked out on his job, and we are still unemployed.

It is grinding me down and I am just so tired. I hate job hunting. My house is too small to have Milord home all the time. My kids are both testing their boundaries and my fuse is far shorter than it should be. I just put the little buggers to bed and then had to go lie down and cry.

*wah* Pity party for one...

In the only good news I have though: Princess' eyes are still straight! Woohoo!



It is exactly one month since her surgery, and so far her brain is still using both eyes at the same time correctly. God I hope they stay ok.

PS. Oh yes, more good news: Princess had a full cardiac checkup the other day and her heart is perfect. No murmur or anything ;-)

Your Royal Fix

No jobs yet, although I am getting quite a few phone calls in response to my applications and have a potential interview on Friday. Perhaps that is why I am wide awake at 1am... while I have confidence in my skills and I interview quite well, I still find the whole experience nerve wracking!

King and Princess are in daycare on Mondays and Fridays now, and as places become available on the other days I will snap them up. Princess still has Kindy on Wednesdays and Thursdays during school terms, but their opening hours (9am to 3pm) just aren't possible once I am working full time.

Yesterday was the kid's first day in daycare. They both did really well, thank goodness! I have found a place within walking distance of home so it is easy to walk them both there pushing the pram, leave the pram and jump on a bus to the city. Then do the pickup in reverse at the end of the day.

Mom will be looking after the kids on the other days of the week. And Milord of course, while he is still job hunting!

It is 2 weeks since Princess' eye surgery and her eyes are still straight. The redness is healing up nicely. So far so good!



Puddles!



Paddling pools.



Playgroup.



Trains.



Daddy's hat!



Mummy's shoes!



Telly.



Show me your eyes, baby. Ooooh!



Post-nap snuggles.

Squint Surgery Take 2

Still no jobs. We are officially running on our credit cards now and will be talking to the bank about pausing the mortgage. I am over my rage and settled into a numb acceptance.

Milord is applying for loads of jobs now. I should be, but I have been very distracted by Princess' second round of squint surgery.

Back in November Princess had surgery to correct her cross-eyed squint, but by December her eyes were beginning to wander into a wall-eyed thing. Turns out her brain didn't get the message to keep the eyes straight, but instead uses one at a time and the one not in use wanders off outward.

It looks awful!

The doctor hasn't seen this before - it is a very rare result. It may be related to Princess' overall low muscle tone and gross motor delays, they don't know.

However, the only available solution is to now weaken the outer muscles of her eyes and hope the brain locks on to both eyes while they are straight. Or if not maybe Princess' eyes will drift inward rather than outward which is far less disturbing to look at.

Before.



Waiting.



Heading into theatre. Poor Princess went to pieces at this point. I had to hold a struggling screaming little girl while they gassed her to sleep. Not. Fun.



Recovery. Princess slept on me for ages while coming around from surgery.



After. Straight eyes! Please please please stay like this!



Since Princess' surgery I have been sleeping like a dead thing. I think I was more stressed than I knew - and I knew I was stressed!

Now I can concentrate on getting a job. Bring it on!

Hanging in there...

We are in a holding pattern here. I'm finding it hard to blog because everything comes out bitter!

Milord is having trouble finding time to study his course, and won't jobhunt until it is done.

One of the reasons he is busy is because he is doing some paid work.

Not enough paid work to cover the mortgage and bills though. We do have enough savings for about 2 months survival though...

Until Milord gets work I don't know if I need to look for full time or part time work myself.

I am still very annoyed but am doing my best to be nice and not nag.

Princess needs another eye operation because her eyes are now doing this:



King has discovered walking and is very chuffed with himself.

Squint Surgery - 1 Week Later

The doctor says she has rarely seen so little redness!

Milord and I got worried over the weekend that Princess' eyes were getting redder, so I took Princess in for a checkup today. It seems that perhaps she is opening her eyes more and we are just seeing more red (there is quite a lot of red under the lower lids you can't see here)! Plus she had a snotty cold and that can make eyes go a bit reddish too. All is perfect.

We also thought maybe Princess' eyes were drifting too far apart, but that's an optical illusion caused by the redness too. As you can see the dots of light are still perfectly aligned.

Princess has been very tired and clingy and off her food for a few days. The doctor thinks that's a combination of the headcold plus sharing a bedroom with a teething baby!

After Eye Surgery

Before: See how the dots of light on the pupils are not identically placed? This means Princess' eyes are not straight.

After: Identical! Straight eyes ta-dah!

Princess seems to be in surprisingly little discomfort, although I'm keeping her dosed with paracetamol anyway. She is very tired and has had naps in the day for the last couple of days, much to her disgust! On the whole she is quite cheerful and almost her normal self.

Her eyes are a little bloodshot and puffy, but not as much as I had been expecting.

Awesome!

In other news King is growing molars, poor baby. He's clingy and off his food. He has big bumps on his gums where they are coming through, and he finds chewing very difficult. As he still dislikes soft food off a spoon he's a bit hungry! He just gets down enough to take the edge off his hunger, and then spits everything else back out.

They are both a bit clingy right now. Yesterday I was carrying Princess when King grabbed me around the knee. She wouldn't let me put her down and he wouldn't let go. I felt like a caricature of a stay-at-home-mom!

Home and doing fine

Princess' eye operation went very well, the surgeon is thrilled.

It was pretty hard making Princess fast until 2pm (!), but we did get her up early for chocolate and juice which she was totally ok with. From 9am Princess was asking for more food, but at least at 3 you can sort of explain why she can't eat or drink for a while.

"Not until the doctors fix your eyes, sweetie."
"Can we go to the doctor now? Right now?"
"No, they're not open yet. I'm sorry."
"I'm hungry Mummy! I'm really hungry!"
"I am so, so sorry darling."

Poor Princess has never been hungry in her life before! She was quite good about it though, I was very impressed. There was a 2-year-old in the next cubicle who wasn't happy with the same situation and he screamed the place down until his turn in theatre came around!

We have private health insurance, and so went to a lovely private hospital. It's still a large expense, but at least the hospital and staff were awesome.

Princess woke up miserable after the op. I've been under general a couple of times myself and can totally understand the confusion and discomfort. We cuddled a lot and finally she drank some juice and ate a sandwich and felt a lot better. By the time we came home it was just about bedtime, so she had a snack and a cuddle and went off to bed with very little complaining.

I hope she has a good night. I hope we all have a good night - I am shattered!

But she's 3!

This afternoon the hospital we are going to tomorrow for Princess' eye surgery finally called to tell me when to come. I'd been assuming that as she is only 3 we'd be at the top of the list and was bracing myself for a very early start.

They want us there at noon. Noon!

With fasting from 6 hours beforehand and Princess rarely awake before 6:30am, this means I cannot give her food at all until mid afternoon after the op. Holy crap.

"You do know she's only 3?" I said disbelievingly.

Princess is fairly indifferent about breakfast before 8am anyway, so my chances of waking her at 6am for a proper meal are zero. And then I'll be giving King food all morning in front of her... aaaaaah!

I'm thinking I load her up on chocolate and juice at 6am. I'm pretty sure she will eat that even if she isn't hungry!

As if this isn't going to be hard enough. growl

Squint Surgery

Princess has strabismus, or a squint, in both eyes. They both turn too hard inwards when she focuses on things, and as a result she has bad depth perception. You can see the issue without a flash in the reflections on her eyes. The reflections should be identical on the pupil. As you can see they are not quite right.

With a flash it is obvious, because one eye has redeye, and the other not the same.

It is getting worse, and something has to be done.

We have tried using glasses to get her eyes to align, but it hasn't helped at all.

The only other thing available to us is surgery. Seriously, there is nothing in between!

While the very idea of Princess undergoing major surgery gives me the heebie jeebies, the sooner we have it done the better her prognosis for good eyesight. So she is booked in for the procedure on Tuesday week - that's 8 days away.

Milord and I are not sleeping well. I lie awake for hours most nights from 2am... this morning I got back to sleep as the birds began chirping and woke at 6am feeling quite grotty!

In other news the kids are pretty awesome. King is desperate to get outside.

He is close to talking - we're pretty sure he says "car" on purpose. Also "uh-oh" for anything dropped. If I drop something in the kitchen I hear "uh-oh" from wherever King is!

King has a decent turn of speed in crawling now, and is considering pulling up to his feet. Then Princess will have to sit at the dining table to play iPad or watch movies on the laptop!

Speaking of the dining table, I have started giving the kids their meals there. It's a lot more comfy for me and Princess is strapped into a booster seat and can't wander off.

Both kids enjoy a whole peeled apple from time to time. It keeps King quiet for ages!

And they enjoy sharing a bath.

That's pretty much my life! It can be a little wearing, especially as Princess has dropped her afternoon nap and so I have no me-time except on her Kindy days. I wish we could afford to send her 3 times a week as she really loves it.