An Overdue Update

I am sorry that this blog has been quiet for 4 months, ever since sweet Abby was born. The main reason (besides the fact that life is super busy with five children) is that I have been dealing with painful eye infections,since she was born. This was caused by a blockage where my left tear duct flows into my nose. This caused any bacteria that got into my eye to be stuck and to fester, and cause one painful infection after another. The official name of this condition is dacrocystitis. It is actually pretty rare in adults, and is much more common in infants. When my infection flared up again, in the middle of January, I needed to get on antibiotics immediately. My whole entire eyelid swelled up and I could only see out of a small portion of my eye, due to the intense infection. After going to my family practitioner, who didn't know how to help (except for give me antibiotics), I went to an ophthalmologist. I was very sad to learn that surgery to clear up the blockage was the only cure for this complication, or I would continue having flare ups and infections. I cannot even begin to tell you how reassuring it was to actually meet a doctor, who understood my condition.I met with my surgeon in the beginning of February. I had surgery to clear the blockage from my tear duct, this past Friday. I was very apprehensive, to say the least, especially due to the fact that Abby is still young, and isn't used to taking a bottle. Thankfully, I only had to be away from her for five hours, during the surgery.My mother was a trooper, watching all my little ones during my surgery. My surgeon had to probe through my nasolachrimal duct, which he did fairly easily, and had to cut out a bump under my eye that had formed from so much scar tissue caused by the many infections I have had. This whole experience has been overwhelming at times, but I am so thankful for the support and prayers of family and friends.I would greatly appreciate your continued prayers that this surgery has been successful. (We won't know for sure, until a couple of weeks.) If my eye continues to tear excessively, I will need a much more involved surgery, in which my dr. will create a new tear duct drainage area inside my nose. I would greatly appreciate your prayers that this surgery that I already had was successful. I hope that in the near future, that I can post much more regularly, as I have so much to share. Thank you for your prayers and support, friends!