Surgery Day

Maizy and I are taking Penelope in for surgery tomorrow. I'm still apprehensive about it,  and Maizy is as well. Time to put the "what if's" aside and put on a brave face. Penny is only 16 months old, and the last thing she needs is her parents causing her any more anxiety then she is already going to have.


She is having surgery to correct a condition called Amblyopia.

Amblyopia occurs when the nerve pathway from one eye to the brain does not develop during childhood. This occurs because the abnormal eye sends a blurred image or the wrong image to the brain.

This confuses the brain, and the brain may learn to ignore the image from the weaker eye.

Strabismus is the most common cause of amblyopia. There is often a family history of this condition.

The term "lazy eye" refers to amblyopia, which often occurs along with strabismus. However, amblyopia can occur without strabismus and people can have strabismus without amblyopia.

Penny has this because I have this. It wasn't caught this early when I was a child, I had the smae procedure she is about to go through, when I was 5 years old. It didn't work for me. 

I thought it was strange when I asked one of the Doctors what has changed about the procedure since 1979 when I had it done. His reply was: "Nothing."  In that short, why are you asking me stupid questions, kind of tone. 

Needless to say, we tried a different Doctor. The funniest thing happened. We basically got a carbon copy of the first Doctor. He had the same hair style (the ring around the head, bald on top, hairy on the sides), they both sported bow-ties, and each of them had a smallish build. The second Doctor insulted Maizy much the same way the first Doctor did to me. I offered him my hand at the end of our consultation, as I knew this would be the last we would see of him. He regarded my hand as if it had electricity sparking from my fingertips. I stood fast and continued to hold out my hand. He actually shook it, I didn't think he would. 

I thought to myself, "Maybe it's because he is a surgeon, and his hands are his most valuable asset."  The way he treated us, coupled with that flimsy handshake, we were moving on. The third time turned out to be a charm, and we found a surgeon that actually had some manners. 

She will be snipping muscles on Penny's eyeballs in less than 24 hours. 


I'm not looking forward to this.