The currency of Grace is where my song begins...

Our Brave Little Man

Titus' eye surgery went great today. We arrived at 6 am went straight to registration and then to Radiology. We filled out paperwork, met the nurses and anesthesiologist, and talked through what all would take place. Here Titus is in the Radiology Waiting area. Titus was sooo good the entire time. He sat patiently on Vernon's lap as they checked his vitals and got to know him a bit. Normally if Titus is nervous he talks your ear off. He chatters about everything trying to derail you from what is actually suppose to be taking place. But he was calm and collected. He sometimes wouldn't speak when they asked questions but mostly he did great. Once Dr. Packwood came in Titus smiled and began to be way more at ease...finally a face he recognized. Vernon decided (to my amazement) that he wanted to be the one who stayed with Titus while they gave him the sleeping gas. So I kissed Titus and left and went to the waiting area where my sweet friends Janelle and Melissa waited. They were so sweet to come! It really helped me that they were there. The time passed so much faster.
Once Titus was asleep, they made Vernon leave and they took Titus for his MRI. Once the MRI was done they moved him up to Surgery. We decided to get Starbucks and go wait in the Surgery waiting room because they would come talk to us there right after they work on him. Janelle, Melissa, Vernon and I got our coffee and headed up to the waiting room. While we were there Allison came to stay with us and our pastor, John, came too. This was such a blessing.
After about 2 hours of waiting Dr. Packwood came out and told us Titus did great and everything was going well. Then about 20 mins later they called us back to see him. This is what he looked like...

What a brave little guy! They had splints on his arms so he wouldn't rub his eyes and as soon as they brought him to consciousness he asked when he could take them off. So they took that opportunity to tell him how important it was to NOT TOUCH his eye...no matter what. Whatever they told him has worked because he keeps reminding me that he is not allowed to touch his eyes. They gave him a Popsicle and he didn't really want it. Titus LOVES Popsicles so I knew he was feeling bad at this point. He kept telling us his eye hurt and burned. He said that it was blurry and that there were two of everything. So we asked the nurse if that was normal and she assured us that he was doing great. She did, however, give him more pain medicine and that seemed to really help him. He then took a big glass of Gatorade and was ready to go home. They took his IV out and told us all the thing we would need to do at home and set up our follow up appointment. Then the brought in the wagon that all the kids get to ride in as they are discharged. It was so fun for Titus! He couldn't really express it so the pictures don't do justice to his delight but he was so glad to be going home and to be pulled in the wagon.
As we waited at the door for Vernon to get the car, the clowns came and made Titus laugh. They gave him a stuffed animal and a hot wheels car...he was more than thrilled! He was so tired but mustered up the strength to tell Vernon about the clowns during our drive home. Here is a picture of us getting him in the car. He was so out of it.

Once we arrived home we took him upstairs where my mom had set up the bean bag and the little TV/DVD player. It was his own little space. Mom got him "The Tale of Despereau" DVD and some activity/sticker books. She had them waiting for him to open on the bean bag. We kept it dark up there because he kept saying everything was too bright. Robin brought Titus a huge Optimus Prime balloon and he had it right next to him all afternoon.
The nurses warned us when we left that as all the meds wore off he would probably be cranky and moody. Boy was that true. I have to rub medicine on his eyelid four times a day and the two times I did it this evening he had a full on meltdown. It was just awful. He is so scared of the medicine, it burns and it blurs his vision for a bit. I have had to fully restrain him to apply it both times. If you are one who is praying for us, please add this to your prayer list...that he would allow me to apply the medicine and not have to be restrained. It is so sad. He is just so scared. We have had a lot of talks about how some times obedience hurts but in the end its the best thing for you. So hopefully obedience in being still for the medicine application will come sooner than later!
Tonight I laid in bed with him and we talked for a while. He told me what he was scared of and why he doesn't like the medicine and how he thought today was cool because his eye would work better. It was a sweet end to a long day.

We also got the call that his MRI was normal! AMEN! Thanks to all who have come on this journey with us. He has about 10 more days of recovery but the hard part is behind us. It will be a good 3 weeks before they will be able to tell if the eyelid lift worked or not...but most likely it did.

Thanks again. To God be the Glory for He has done great things for us and we are filled with Joy!