After the patch comes off

They took the patch off Iris's eye yesterday and she did great.  She was not able to see as much as they had hoped she would.  The doctor said she has been 2.5 years with no sight in that eye so it might just take her some time to get the brain and eye working together.  We are praying for sight to kick in before the 10th as she has her left eye surgery on the 10th. and if she doesn't start seeing out of the right eye by then she will be without sight for a few days while the left eye heals. 
If you are the praying type we would welcome as many people praying for her and her sight as possible. 

The First Surgery

This morning Iris had her first surgery to remove the cataract and put a new lens in her eye.  The morning started early as we had to be at Children's Mercy at 6:00am (remember - no food or drink after midnight the night before).  We worried she would be a "bear" with no food but she did great.  I think all of the distractions made her forget that she was hungry.

Around 7:30am we had to walk with a nurse to a junction in the hallway and from there the nurse took Iris and we had to watch her walk away.  It was awful and we do not understand why one of the parents can not be with her until she is out.  Other than that the process was great.  Children's Mercy is so good with kids and families.

Another awesome thing was that the surgeon actually called the house last night to check on Iris and see if Mom and Dad had any more questions.  What great service!

After the surgery the doctor came out and told us everything went great and she thinks Iris will be able to see from that eye tomorrow when the "patch" is off.  The eye they operated on today was the worst of the two.  This eye has very little vision if any.  The doctor thinks she will see something tomorrow but it could improve over the next several weeks.  Speaking of the patch - the first thing Elliot said when he saw Iris was, "I thought the patch would be black" (like a pirate).

Iris is currently sleeping and will hopefully sleep most of today.  Tomorrow will be very exciting.  We continue to pray for vision and healing.

Another quick update - I just spoke to Melissa and she informed me Iris is awake and playing just like normal.  She is running around laughing and playing.

Attached are some pictures from this morning and one with her new hat.

Just an average day

Her are the girls princesses

little Storm Trooper

A big box is sooo much fun

somersaults at the ball park

This is just a typical day with Iris.  It is never dull.

Taming the Wild Beast

Iris has finially decided to make friends with "Kookootine" aka Clementine.
Now poor Clementine has no peace. Iris just runs after her yelling "Kookootine come here" "Kookootine, something in Chinese" I of course can't seem to catch her and the wild beast together. So this is the best picture I can get.

Gotcha video

The first of many eye appoints under our belt

Today was Iris's first eye apt.  She did really well. 

She did not like the eye drops they put in, other wise she was a real trooper.  They were not able to see the back of her eyes since the cataracts are so thick.  We go downtown next week for a scan of her eyes then they will schedule us for surgery.  So we continue to wait.  In the mean time we met a great family at our church who have also adopted a child and he just happens to be an opthamologist.  He knows many of the children's group so they have been a big comfort to us with all their help.  God has this thing all figured out for us.  All we need to do is listen.

Just playing around with some glasses

Here is our first family of 5 picture.  Boy was that hard. 

here is proof

"Just fill out this medical history mom."

They say you aren't really a mother until you have nursed a sick kid.  I guess I am now officially a mother!

Today after another long night with Iris singing and talking, she woke up a little cranky.  I was feeling no sympathy for her at all.  I thought she just needed to get her body adjusted to the new time.  So I was trying very hard to keep her awake all morning.  Elliot had a play date so I finally let her take a nap around 11.  I went and woke her up at 2 and she was still cranky.  She started coughing and then had a little runny  nose.  I thought she was just getting a cold from lack of sleep so I wasn't to worried about her.  She started to get a fever around 3 so I gave her some Motrin but she still did not act right.  She was not eating (big red flag for Iris) she was just wanting to sleep and be held.  So I held her.  By 4:30 she had very labored breathing and then progressed to wheezing.  So I took her in to see the doctor. 
They gave here several breathing treatments and of course asked a ton of questions about her history.  I of course had to say "I don't know" to every thing.  Makes you feel like a terrible mother.  So they checked her for everything, flu, RSV, strep just to rule out any thing.  Guess what?  Iris has strep!  Great.  They send us to the Children's hospital for chest x-rays and nasal washing. 
Iris throws up in the car on the way to the hospital.  I clean her up, change her clothes and take her into the hospital where she throws up all over herself, the stroller, the floor, and anyone else who gets in her way.  We get our xrays and take a hospital gown and we are outta there.  Once we get home Iris is still looking a little blue and breathing fast.  The doctor calls to tell us the x-ray is clear but just to keep an eye on her color and breathing.  So I will be giving her breathing treatments all night. Hopefully we don't have to make another appearance at Children's Mercy until her appointment for her eyes.  

Our First Week At Home

Tomorrow will mark Iris's one week anniversary at her new home.  She has adapted well and has slowed down the eating.  The only issue we have is with her sleeping.  She is not yet on our schedule and this has caused a lot of short nights for mom and dad (mostly mom).  She typically goes to bed as needed but then she wakes up around midnight and wants to stay up until about 5 am and then go back to sleep.

In China she slept very well so we think it is just her body clock is not adjusting as quickly as we would like.  She seems tired but really fights going back to sleep.  We have not given her any sleep aides as we hate that idea.

The plan is for her and Ansley to share a room but we can already see this may be an issue.  Once the sleeping is improved we will discuss other ideas.  For now we will work through the challenges.

Iris has met many of the neighbors and loves playing outside with other kids.  She has taken to the Plasma Cars we have (luckily we have two of them) and does very well on them. 

We received a nice surprise this week as our church informed us that they have arranged for some meals to be provided for a few weeks.  Last night was our first and it was awesome (I could get used to this).

This weekend is the 4th of July and we had planned on going to my father's house to celebrate a late Father's Day.  However, I think we may not go because Iris is still not on a good sleeping pattern.  We hate to break the routine we have started while she is still figuring it all out.  If she improves in the next few nights we may change our minds.

I started back to work on Monday and everyone wants to know about Iris.  So many people have asked about her and said they would include us in their prayers.  It has been great telling people about her and the experience.  It also gives me a chance to tell people about the need to adopt children with special needs.

Iris will see her first doctor on July 12 and this will be at Children's Mercy.  We are very optimistic about her eyes but we will know a lot more after this visit.  Grandmother is taking the day off to watch Ansley and Elliot so we can focus on the doctors visit and not be distracted.  We are very anxious for this appointment.

We have received so much love and support from friends and family since we returned home with Iris.  It is amazing how people are drawn to her and want to know about the journey.  Everyone tells us how lucky Iris is but for me our family is the lucky one.  She has brought Melissa and I closer together and I know this process is going to teach Ansley and Elliot a lot more than I can even imagine. 

Until we post again, enjoy the pictures.