Juniper's surgery

Juniper had eye muscle repair surgery on Friday. She was first diagnosed with strabismus (or crossed eyes) when she was two, and she's been wearing corrective bifocals ever since. Over the past few months, her bifocals have become less and less effective at forcing her two eyes to work together. Surgery was the next option for correcting her crossed eyes and (hopefully) making sure that Juniper continues to have vision in both eyes.

Juniper was understandably a little nervous about the procedure, but she was very excited about getting to have popsicles, juice, and Gatoraid for breakfast the morning of her surgery. (Notice how her right eye is crossed in toward her nose in this pre-surgery photo.)

She was a champ the morning of her surgery--no complaints about being hungry or thirsty, and only the most appropriate and understandable expressions of fear or concern about the procedure. She was her typically extroverted self and made friends with all the pre-op nurses.

Once the novelty of the children's surgery center (and its many toys) wore off, Juniper buried her nose in a book and entertained herself till the surgery. She was scared when we went back for the actual surgery, but thankfully she fell asleep quickly. By the time we had agreed on a song for me to sing to comfort her, I sang one line, and she was already out.

Everything went well in the surgery, and Juniper continued to be in remarkably good spirits. She was a little confused and deflated right after the surgery, but she perked back up pretty quickly. She continued to be a superstar and has done an especially good job of following all the doctor's instructions. We were in and out of the hospital in just over 4 hours, and she had a great weekend at home. Aside from the zombie bloodshot eyes, you wouldn't even have known that she was recovering from surgery. Sadly, although she is well recovered from the surgery, she was not back at school today. In a bit of rotten timing, she came down with a stomach bug and spent the day home on the couch.

She looks pitiful in this photo, but what she doesn't look is cross-eyed.