The day after surgery

The appointment the day after surgery was pretty non-eventful.  There was a lot of waiting (our appointment was at 8:30am and we didn't leave until 12:30pm!) and very little talking.  We saw the ophthalmologist, the ophthalmology resident, an optician, and a nurse.   The ophthalmologist looked at his eyes (after they dilated them, of course!) and said that the surgery aspect looked good and there was still too much swelling to tell how much the PHPV would affect Tommy's eye.  Ugh, more waiting.

The optician and the nurse came and fitted Tommy for his contact.  The ophthalmologist came back and decided on the strength.  Then came the hard part:  trying the contacts on!
We had a very nice nurse- he was funny, nice, and professional all in one.   He brought a fitting contact and popped it into Tommy's eye like it was nothing.  Tommy barely blinked.  Then he taught us.  When I say "us", I do mean that he taught Tommy's dad.  Since Tommy's dad wears contacts, he was elected to be the contact guy.  Interestingly enough, the nurse told us that in his experience, it is often the father's who put in and take out the contacts.  I watched, and I will probably have to learn... but will do that in the safety of my own home!  He then showed us how to "pop the contact out".  When he did it, it looked easy- again, Tommy was unfazed.  Now it was dad's turn to try to put the contact in while the nurse was there to help.  He was nervous, but when he tried to put the contact in, it was as if he had been doing this forever!  I was quite impressed.  Getting it out was a different story.  The nurse told us to "pull the eyelids open, push down, and the contact will pop out!"  Sounds easy, right?  It isn't.  Tommy cried and dad felt bad, so we let the nurse take it out.  After all, the poor guy had been through enough eye trauma with the surgery the day before!  While I am describing what it was like, I realize that I was too chicken to do it.  I am completely impressed at his willingness and ability to do this, and I do dread the day that I have to do it alone.

One of the scarier parts?  The nurse told us that the contacts cost $500 each.  FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!  And that some kids lost one contact a week.  YIKES!  I had half-heartedly tried to find out what our insurance covered before this visit- but now I am on a mission!