As promised (well, promised if you read my descriptions in the latest Flickr set), here is a YouTube movie of River an hour or so before his surgery yesterday. The last time this kid ate was at least 6 hours before, and yet he's still reasonably happy and easily charmed by his favorite toy, his oldest friend Mallory the hula monkey! She's our go-to toy when he really really needs comfort, and he shows his affection for her in this movie (ok, he was probably trying to eat her nose, but still).

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The doctor's didn't really tell us much more today. They sort of looked at his eyes and said they looked good, that they'd heal fast, and that we'd have to come back in a week for another checkup. They also commented that we should "get used to" taking off the eye patches (they did it last time, but made Tim do it this time) and that his right eye would be especially sore for awhile.

I had to press and ask several questions in different ways to get any more detail on that right eye -- seems (squick alert! stop reading if you are easily squicked by medical stuff/ eye stuff) they had to remove the cloudy top layer of his eye in order to do the goinotomy on his right eye, so even though it'll grow back quickly it's going to be extra sore. Glad I kept asking; I think knowing that happened to him is important, even if I can't do anything extra about it.

We have steroid/ antibiotic drops (a different bottle for each eye) which we give him four times a day. I asked this time and I DON'T have to wake him up to do it in the middle of the night, which their surgery coordinator had told me I had to when I called and asked about that a few weeks ago (she refused to ask the doctor or let me speak to them; I think this is the price of very good/ sought-after doctors, this sort of fortification around them, but it's annoying as hell).

Anyway, we don't really know anything new. I think we'll have to wait until they put him under and test them again, but they didn't say when that would be. I'm assuming they'll decide that next week; I'll certainly be asking about it. It's frustrating, not knowing more.

River, though, is doing well. He didn't want to open his eyes much this morning after the patches came off, and Tim says he slept much of the day, but that he was cheery and giggly when he was awake. I got him to smile at me tonight, and he was playful and so happy to see us. We got him a new jumper (we have to put a yoga block under it so his feet reach something to push against) which is a big hit (or will be, once he feels a bit better); he played in it for awhile, checking out the new toys and determining which ones reached his mouth. I think he likes being able to "sit" by himself in it. At first he held on for dear life... kinda wish I'd filmed that, but neither Tim nor I wanted to be removed from him tonight. He's our special, brave little guy. We love him so much.