I started thinking about this blog last night but I just couldn't dare do without consulting with the handy dandy Dr. Getman first. He finally called me back today. Can you believe he made me wait a whole day, WTH? Ok...Jaxon has to have surgery. Not major major surgery but surgery none the less. His tear ducks have been an issue for his whole existence. Ever noticed that he always has a tear on at least on eye? Well, he does. We have done antibiotic drops at least 5 times, and Dr. Nina has been working on this since he was a few days old. She makes it better but then it clogs again, and after much debate, we decided to go with Dr. Getman's advise and see a pediatric ophthalmologist. Which brings us to yesterday.
Dr. Rainy was prompt, and informative..but far from my favorite Dr on the planet like Dr. Getman. She was straight and to the point, after turning off the lights, shining lights in his eyes, having him look up down and all around says "Yep he needs surgery, bilateral clogged tear ducts". I knew this was coming since Dr. Getman had been saying, "now Laura, if we can't get this to clear up by 18 months old, he is going to need surgery". I was in denial, I admit it. Surgery and my kid should not go together in the same sentence. We talked about the procedure, and in her eyes that it’s no big deal, but this is what I left the office with...and remember this is my laymen’s terms version of what she said.
Jaxon will come in to the pediatric surgery center (next to Dell Children's); they will do the normal pre-op stuff and we can be back with him in the room, then they will take him back to surgery (while still awake and likely screaming). They will give him some gas to make him go to sleep and them give him an IV that they will fill with anesthesia and pain medicine. She will put a metal probe through his tear ducts to kind of rotorooter it out, then use either a stint or a balloon to keep the tube open. Did you know that you have 2 tear ducks on each eye? How did I not know this? Anyway, the one on the top eyelid is the one that the tears come in from and the one on the bottom, is how they exit, draining into your nose and down your throat. There lies the problem....that’s where the blockage is. So she is telling me all this and Jaxon is sitting quietly in my lap. I know, odd. I ask about the stint, she says, it’s a tube that we will leave in his tear duct and we will remove it in a few months in the office. I said, how?? She said, you just hold him down and we take it out. I am thinking, yeah right lady. It’s what she said next that made me laugh out loud at her. "Mr. Jaxon seems very calm, I am sure he could handle it". Right, Jaxon = calm. No way. I ask what the other options are, she says there is a balloon method, where they have a little balloon attached to the probe and as it gets into the duct they blow it up to kind of stretch out the area. They repeat several times and they are done. No coming back months later to dig out the stint in that method. I am already voting for this one even though she believes it’s a little less effective. I pay, and schedule the surgery for Jan 7th. As I am driving down Mopac in tears, I call Dr. Getman and leave a message for him to call. I need him to tell me what she said in my terms and give me some sound advice on which method is more appropriate for Jaxon, the kid he knows.
Ok, so here we are at today. Dr. Getman calls back. Instead of saying “its Dr. Getman, I get “Hey Laura, its Will. Will Getman”. I told you we were like that :). Anyway, I give him the run down and tell him about the 2 options that Dr. Rainy had discussed. He was aware of both and said both are effective. In fact he said he had a mom in his office the other day that had the procedure done using the stints. He said you could see the tubes in the corners of her eyes. I am trying to picture this, thinking you can see the tube sticking out of the bottom duct….and that’s when it clicked. The little tube connects the top duct to the bottom duct, and continues to run down the back of your nose into the throat. He was saying that he has had kids whose have fallen out, either from them touching or rubbing them. JT will so be that kid. He also said removing them was like removing stitches in the office, no biggie at all. I told him what she said, she would use tweezers to go in and grab the tube, all this time I was thinking digging in the tear duct, while Jaxon just lays there and allows her to come at him with tweezers, to his EYES none the less….so not happening. After Getman's description, sounds like the tube will be visible and there will be no fishing for it involved. I am not 100% sure which way we are going yet, but Rich and I believe that the balloon is the better of the 2 for our little man.
Net-Net from Dr. G is that the pediatric surgery center is really good and that they deal with kids all day long every day. He likes Dr. Rainy (although there is only one other choice in town, who happens to be her partner) and thinks Jaxon will do just fine. He will be under for a short period of time. It’s a day surgery, so we will be there 3-4 hours and then come home. They said he will have bloody tears and bloody nose the day after but should be fine after that. Since this is an elective surgery, if the anesthesiologist has any doubt about Jaxon’s health the day of surgery that they would delay it. This came up cause I asked him if all the cough and congestion would affect him going under anesthesia.
So there you have it, I am a wreck. I don’t like it at all but….it’s one of those things that just has to be done. Boy is Jaxon in for a rude awakening.
Dr. Rainy was prompt, and informative..but far from my favorite Dr on the planet like Dr. Getman. She was straight and to the point, after turning off the lights, shining lights in his eyes, having him look up down and all around says "Yep he needs surgery, bilateral clogged tear ducts". I knew this was coming since Dr. Getman had been saying, "now Laura, if we can't get this to clear up by 18 months old, he is going to need surgery". I was in denial, I admit it. Surgery and my kid should not go together in the same sentence. We talked about the procedure, and in her eyes that it’s no big deal, but this is what I left the office with...and remember this is my laymen’s terms version of what she said.
Jaxon will come in to the pediatric surgery center (next to Dell Children's); they will do the normal pre-op stuff and we can be back with him in the room, then they will take him back to surgery (while still awake and likely screaming). They will give him some gas to make him go to sleep and them give him an IV that they will fill with anesthesia and pain medicine. She will put a metal probe through his tear ducts to kind of rotorooter it out, then use either a stint or a balloon to keep the tube open. Did you know that you have 2 tear ducks on each eye? How did I not know this? Anyway, the one on the top eyelid is the one that the tears come in from and the one on the bottom, is how they exit, draining into your nose and down your throat. There lies the problem....that’s where the blockage is. So she is telling me all this and Jaxon is sitting quietly in my lap. I know, odd. I ask about the stint, she says, it’s a tube that we will leave in his tear duct and we will remove it in a few months in the office. I said, how?? She said, you just hold him down and we take it out. I am thinking, yeah right lady. It’s what she said next that made me laugh out loud at her. "Mr. Jaxon seems very calm, I am sure he could handle it". Right, Jaxon = calm. No way. I ask what the other options are, she says there is a balloon method, where they have a little balloon attached to the probe and as it gets into the duct they blow it up to kind of stretch out the area. They repeat several times and they are done. No coming back months later to dig out the stint in that method. I am already voting for this one even though she believes it’s a little less effective. I pay, and schedule the surgery for Jan 7th. As I am driving down Mopac in tears, I call Dr. Getman and leave a message for him to call. I need him to tell me what she said in my terms and give me some sound advice on which method is more appropriate for Jaxon, the kid he knows.
Ok, so here we are at today. Dr. Getman calls back. Instead of saying “its Dr. Getman, I get “Hey Laura, its Will. Will Getman”. I told you we were like that :). Anyway, I give him the run down and tell him about the 2 options that Dr. Rainy had discussed. He was aware of both and said both are effective. In fact he said he had a mom in his office the other day that had the procedure done using the stints. He said you could see the tubes in the corners of her eyes. I am trying to picture this, thinking you can see the tube sticking out of the bottom duct….and that’s when it clicked. The little tube connects the top duct to the bottom duct, and continues to run down the back of your nose into the throat. He was saying that he has had kids whose have fallen out, either from them touching or rubbing them. JT will so be that kid. He also said removing them was like removing stitches in the office, no biggie at all. I told him what she said, she would use tweezers to go in and grab the tube, all this time I was thinking digging in the tear duct, while Jaxon just lays there and allows her to come at him with tweezers, to his EYES none the less….so not happening. After Getman's description, sounds like the tube will be visible and there will be no fishing for it involved. I am not 100% sure which way we are going yet, but Rich and I believe that the balloon is the better of the 2 for our little man.
Net-Net from Dr. G is that the pediatric surgery center is really good and that they deal with kids all day long every day. He likes Dr. Rainy (although there is only one other choice in town, who happens to be her partner) and thinks Jaxon will do just fine. He will be under for a short period of time. It’s a day surgery, so we will be there 3-4 hours and then come home. They said he will have bloody tears and bloody nose the day after but should be fine after that. Since this is an elective surgery, if the anesthesiologist has any doubt about Jaxon’s health the day of surgery that they would delay it. This came up cause I asked him if all the cough and congestion would affect him going under anesthesia.
So there you have it, I am a wreck. I don’t like it at all but….it’s one of those things that just has to be done. Boy is Jaxon in for a rude awakening.
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