Brandon's Eye Operation

Today was the big day for Brandon's eye operation over at Nuffield Hospital. After nearly 3 years of waiting until the time was right he was finally ready to get the cyst removed from his eyebrow. Hopefully this will be the first and last time that either of our boys ever have to have a surgery. So it was an early start to get Brandon all checked in for 7am in the morning.

Brandon all checked into his private room with Winnie The Pooh theme.

The sister looking after Brandon was called Fiona and she did an absolutely excellent job or looking after the little man and trying to comfort him as much as she could. She even gave him this V.I.B teddy bear which he was allowed to bring home. 

Brandon with his V.I.B teddy which he named "Lady".

It was all fun and exciting at the start of the day as we played hide and seek in his room and then took turns hiding "Lady" and playing colder/hotter. 

Brandon hiding under the hospital bed.

Brandon's hospital gown was a little on the large side for him!

Then we had some chill time whilst he watched some children's programs and had his feet tickled.

The anaesthetist came around shortly followed by the doctor who put a little ink mark on the side of Brandon's head to indicate which eye the cyst was on.

Ink marking the eye, this will be most peoples last view of Brandon's cyst as he readies himself for surgery.

Brandon had to have "magic cream" on both his hands in order to numb the pain when the put the needle in his vein. He initially found the cream intriguing and was squelching it around underneath the clear plaster. But when it was time to take the plaster off he was not a happy bunny.

Magic cream and Brandon's hospital wrist band.

At this stage Brandon was still all smiles and having fun.

The early morning started to take its toll and he settled down to relax on his hospital bed for a while.

At about 9am it was time for the surgery and it all seemed to happen so quickly and must have been so daunting for little Brandon. He did not want to be wheeled in the bed down to the theatre and therefore I carried him down there whilst the bed was pushed in front of us. Once there I sat him on my lap whilst they anaesthetised him ready for the operation. At this point my emotions got the better of me and I turned into a blubbering wuss. Nothing can prepare you for how quickly they suddenly fall asleep and then suddenly its all a big rush to get him on the bed and get cracking. The nurse assured me he was in good hands but it was all still very emotional.

An hour later and I was called down to the recovery room as he was starting to come around. The first half an hour or so was awful as Brandon was clearly in pain and very confused. He was crying a lot, arching his back and no amount of comforting, soothing lullabies or tickles seemed to calm him down. Finally he was given some more pain relief and then soon enough he started to settle. Having not eaten or drank since about 7:15 the previous night he was pretty famished and agreed to have his lunch ordered at about 10:30. 

Finally Brandon settles after the surgery and I reward his Bravery with a giant size Monster Jam car.

Short term Brandon's eye looks very swollen and bruised but the doctor assured me all of the cyst was successfully removed.

Nuffield had a great menu for me and Brandon to pick our lunches from. I went for a nice healthy chicken salad option, but Brandon had fish fingers with chippes followed by vanilla ice cream. I was pretty amazed how well he ate and drank so soon after surgery and have you ever seen a kids dinner with 6 fish fingers!!!!

Brandon reaching for another chippie.

This is the only medicine Brandon needs.



This is his 1:24 Monster Mutt toy for being such a brave boy.

By about 12:15 Brandon was pretty much back to himself and nagging Fiona that he wanted to go home. So I quickly ate up my lunch and we were discharged. He still has a lot of the sticky pads stuck on his body as he really doesn't like them being pulled off. I managed to get one of them off and he wasn't going have any more of that pain. 

Back home and the swelling and bruising are really starting to show. The scar is in the eyebrow and has been glued together with a butterfly stitch over the top.

Now I just have to figure out how to get the other sticky pads off of his body.