So I have mentioned before that Stella had a clogged tear duct and we were waiting and waiting but it never cleared up. We tried everything we could, both holistic and otherwise to get it to open up. It would get better adn be more clear some days than others, but it just never completely opened. At her 9 month appointment, Dr. Marsden referred us to an eye specialist and he confirmed she would need the Eye Probing surgery, which was the least invasive of our two potential options.
I was really, really upset about it at first but knew it was for the best. We were working in a little window of time, too. Sometimes if you wait too long, the eye develops and grows and to open up the duct they would need to cut it and place a drain inside the eye that would be in place for weeks or months which would be a lot bigger deal. With the probing, they just go in through the tear duct and stick a hollow metal tube that basically hollows out and opens the duct and removes any tissues that are in place to cause the ‘clogging’. Once they remove the probe, they drop dye into the duct and if it drains out the nose, they know they’ve opened it.

The days leading up to surgery, and even the morning of, I was pretty calm. I had done a lot of research and knew enough about it to not be too worried and that she would be fine. We had to get up early and she had to fast from the night before so I was worried she would be miserable and starving, but she was just fine. Hamming it up for all the nurses. It’s so funny when we take Stella anywhere without Harlo. It’s like she knows she’s the queen for the day when the real queen is out. This day was no different 🙂

Daddy and Stella in the waiting room.. note we had to be there a lot earlier than we’re used to be up… doesn’t Mr. Miller look energetic? 🙂


You can see in these that her left eye is more glossy than her right and usually gooped up and her lashes are always saturated… I really love my little sparkle eye girl.

They got us back and the princess was all gowned up. I think she liked the attire:

They came in and gave her some Versed and tylenol to make her comfortable before the surgery (and not freak out when they take her back to the OR) they had told me this and I was glad about it originally, but as soon as the medicine kicked in it was so strange! I just got so emotional. It was too weird to see my baby all drugged and not acting herself. She was totally happy and silly.. she kept (very slowly) playing pee-a-boo with Brady and she would giggle when I kissed her but I just couldn’t handle it. It was really weird… that’s the only word I can describe it as; weird. I think the nurses and especially the anesthesiologist thought I must be crazy. It was kind of fun to just have her lay in my arms and on my shoulder for a few minutes, though. She is such a busy little bee these days!
You can see the medicine starting to kick in right here:


Even though that seems like it wasn’t the hard part, for me it was. They took her back and we waited for probably 20 minutes until they came and got us. The doctor told us that the probing worked and what to look for but that she should see results almost immediately, with a few days for possible weaping.
Babies cry a lot when they wake up from sedation. It makes you lose your inhibitions so babies usually just seem upset. She cried a lot when she woke up for quite a while and that was hard to see, but I knew she wasn’t in any pain and it was just the medicine making her act that way so that helped. (although they had to keep an IV in for hydration reasons and take that out before we left.. bummer! I hate getting IVs out 🙁 She wasn’t happy about that at all.

When we got home she was still in a little fit but it was getting a little better. Harlo was so concerned and kept saying, “why you crying, honey? You okay? Darn it…” Brady took Harlo to get a few things at the store and I stayed with Stella. After a minute she just snapped right out of it. She started smiling again and saying “mama! mama!” She seemed a bit woozy for a while, she couldn’t really pull herself up or stay standing and was a little disoriented, but other than that, she was fine. She wasn’t nearly as sick as I’d expected her to be and by dinner
time, she was basically right back to herself. I could even already notice that her eye wasn’t nearly as glossy as normal. It was kind of strange. I kept thinking she looked so different, but that’s all it was. She just normally has an extra layer of gloss over that eye because it can’t drain properly.

This morning she woke up with a completely clear eye. First time in her life! All day long it’s stayed clear, so I’m thinking that’s a good sign 🙂