Successful Surgery (with some concerns)

Matthew just came back from his surgery on his right eye. The surgeon was very happy with how the surgery went, but was concerned about a few things he saw. First, there are areas that are likely to be retinal detachment. These are in his peripheral vision, so if they don't spread they will likely have little impact on his central vision. It's even possible that the retina could lay back down in these areas and he could have good vision across the entire eye. There is also what looks like a hole in the retina. The surgeon couldn't tell for sure if it really is a hole (he was 70-80% sure it was), but he didn't want to insert anything into the hole in case it wasn't. A hole in the retina is a really bad thing. We're not sure what can be done about it if it is a hole, but we'll talk it over with the surgeon if he confirms that it is. The doctor did nick the lens during the surgery, but it didn't progress during the surgery. If the lens ends up clouding up (cataracts), they'll have to remove the lens. It's possible that it will remain as is and simply slightly impair his vision. They also had to put a buckle on his eye. We're not exactly sure why this was necessary, but it will have to stay on his eye for 3-4 months. No matter how well things improve, he'll definitely have to have another surgery in 3-4 months to remove the buckle. In addition, he removed approximately 80% of the vitreous fluid which should fill up in the next day or so. There is a chance that it could end up filling with blood instead of the vitreous fluid and if that was the case then they would have to go back in and remove the blood again with surgery.

They took some pictures of his left eye which I'll post soon. The doctor said this eye is a home run and should be a 20/20 eye.

Matthew had a stool last night. This means his intestines are working at least somewhat. They probably won't start feeding him today, but they might start as soon as tomorrow.

Matthew looked a little pale yesterday, so they ran some bloodwork on him. His platelet count and hematocrit were low, so they decided to transfuse him before the surgery. When we came in and saw him this morning, he looked much pinker.

The eye surgeon said that his low platelet count could have been the cause of the hemorrhaging in his eye. Even after the transfusion, his platelet count was still a little low, so the surgeon said that there's a good chance that he could re-bleed into his eye. They didn't see any re-bleeding during the surgery, so it may be fine.