Alec's eyeball Part II

Want to see a miracle?

Alec's eye has rounded itself out! It no longer has that dip in it. We are so happy at this progress.

The doctor said that the iris was stretched out and may stay stretched out or it may tighten up as it heals. Right now his pupil is much bigger than his other one:

The doctor thinks that when he puts him under to take the stitches out that he can make it tighten a little. But he may have one eye that always looks dilated. Lets hope for another miracle that it will tighten and look as close to normal as possible.

Alec's Eyeball

If you get queezy easily you may not want to look at this. So abort now.

This is Alec's eye. His iris will probably always look like this. We figure he will think it is cool to have a different looking eye. Cool party trick.

If you look really close on the bottom right you can see the stitches. It looks like they go to all the way to the left side too. Crazy. I have never seen stitches on an actual eyeball.

Anyway he is doing really good. The doctor is so pleased with his progress. It looks like we are out of the woods and just need to be careful for awhile. He needs to be put back under to get the stitches out in 5 weeks.

He is also out of school this whole week and needs to try and stay calm. This is easier said than done with a 6 year old boy. He is very frustrated that he can't play like he wants to.

We are so happy he is doing so well. Also his eye sight seems just fine! Thanks for all the prayers and love.

Don't try this at home!

Q:  What do you get when you cross a kid who is annoyed with his little brother, throwing a pencil, and a lot of bad luck?

A:  A little boy who needs emergency eye surgery. 

Last night Alec got hit in the eye with a pencil.  Somehow it cut his eye.  His pupil was no longer round.  It was upside down tear shaped.  It was the weirdest thing.  It looked like a cat eye.  There was a raised brown spot on the bottom of the tear drop.

I took him to the emergency room.  They sedated him and tried to remove the raised brown spot.  They determined it wasn't a foreign body, but part of his eye.  They then had me go to another Hospital where an Optomatologist was waiting.  He took one look at it and said we needed to do surgery right then.  Keep in mind this was 11:00 at night.

They prepped him and took him to surgery around midnight.  Two hours later the doctor came and told us that the raised brown spot was actually part of his iris (the color part of the eye).  His eye had been sliced and part of his iris was leaking out.  I had no idea that could happen!

The doctor was able to stitch the iris back in.  How he described doing it was scary.  The iris is very delicate and it took very precise stitches to put it back.

He doctor is still not sure how this will turn out.  So far so good.  He is seeing him every day to assess the swelling.  If it swells too much it could push the iris back out.  He could also get an infection, and may need a another surgery.

He is now wearing a clear eye guard, can't go to school, and can't be stressed or get upset.  It could take up to 8 weeks to fully recover.

Also his iris will be deformed for life.  We won't know how it will look until after it heals completely.

All this because of one little accident.  It blows my mind how fast life can change.  I am very grateful for modern technology.  The doctor said if he didn't put the iris in immediately it could die and then the eye would be damaged for life.

We are crossing our fingers and toes that it all continues to go well, and his eye will be normal again.

Update number Three

Gavin and Brynn reached the goal for their grade in AR (accelerated reader) points, and got to "Rock the Halls." This is where they run through the halls with everyone cheering them on. They also get a medal.
Gavin needed 100 AR points and Brynn needed 75.

We are lucky. Our kids love to read. We have to get after them to put their books down and finally go to sleep at night. (I love the part of parenting where you have to chastise the good stuff while secretly loving that they are doing it).

Gavin with his friend Dalin

Brynn

We are proud of our little readers!

Update Number Two

You see this cute boy.  The one in my opinion is the most handsome ten, almost eleven, year old on the planet.  He is feeling a little self conscience lately because he lost two bottom teeth and now has glasses.  Yep glasses!  (He apparently has his dad's eyes).   I think it makes him even more handsome.  (I also am sad that he is old enough to be so self conscience).

Update Number One

I am a wee bit behind on my blog. Part of it is being busy, part of it is motivation. I have a few updates I need to make in the next few days (or weeks, or months, cause my motivation bucket is pretty much empty).

When I went to Canada in September for my Grandpa's funeral I noticed bags of his clothes that my Grandma was planning on giving to good will. I talked to my aunts and cousins and together we picked out some of the clothes that reminded us of him. I borrowed one of my Grandma's suitcases, and without my Grandma knowing I snuck some of his clothes back to Utah.

I then used them to make my Grandma a quilt with them. I sent it to her for Christmas. It was very emotional to work with my Grandpa's clothes. I miss him.

Notice the middle of the quilt. These are his socks. He always wore those socks and they remind my cousin Trevor of him. So I pieced together a couple pair of socks and added them in.

I really hope this can give my Grandma a little bit of comfort. I know it is tough for her right now.

23 Holiday Pictures

1. 2. and 3.  Brynn was in an Opera Club and they did a Christmas Opera.  She was Holly Jingles.  We love our little drama queen!

 4. 5. and 6.  Christmas Eve with Steve, Angie, Ryan and Emily.  Each Family decorated a ginger bread man.  (Ours was best).

7.  New Jammies and cousins

8.  New Snuggies!

9.  Christmas morning.  Filled to the brim stockings.

10.  Apparently Sponge Bob toothbrushes are AWESOME!

11.  Brynn's number one on her list:  American Girl  Doll.

12.  Alec's number one on his list:  Stuffed orange cat.

13.  Brett's number one on his list:  Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle Lego
Sarah's number one on her list:  New laptop.

 14.  What is it?

15.  Gavin's number one on his list:  Harry Potter Hagrid's Hut Lego and Game Cube controller.

16. and 17.  Christmas Afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Francis'.

18.  A Kung Zu Battle Arena.  What more do you need in life?

19.  Annie's candy cane dog bone.

20. 21. 22. and 23.  Hockey Game on New Year's Day with my brothers Matt and Russ and their families.  It was Utah against Canada.  Go Canada!  (Though Utah won).

Many, Many fun memories.  It was a great Holiday season.

(Oh and I stole this post idea from my sister-in-law Kim cause she is fun and creative, and me...not so much).